River Report: The Last Nice Day

What a beautiful day. By noon the temperature is pushing 60. You don't have anything to do that can't be put off. So it's off to the river.

You go downstream from the bridge and see what you can do in some deep holes there.

Nothing doing.

You climb the bank, and move back upstream under the bridge. You want to fish the Glide up around the bend, but you stop and make a cast into the Bridge Run just for the heck of it. Bang, there's a trout on.

That was very nice. You look at the deep hole behind the pylon and see rises. So you climb over the rocks and take up a position where you can work both the current seam and the hole. Where there are trout there may be steelhead.

You see two rises at the same time under the overhanging branches.

You cast and swing. Nothing. Then you begin to strip in through the slack water and a fish takes.

A beautiful trout.

You do it again and a second trout takes.

It feels good to have a trout in your hand again.

You try a few more passes, without success. Time to try the Glide.

You start upstream wading the shallows close to the bank. You find many dead salmon, well on their way back into the universe. You regret again that you weren't here to see them when they were alive and in their prime, as you have in years past. You vow to their ghosts that you'll be there next year.

You reach the Glide. You'll fish it from the near side this time. Still a little too deep and fast to cross. You wade upstream a good ways, then turn, wade out deeper, and work your way back. You hit all the spots where you have found steelhead in the past, but this time you get only one chase and miss from what you take to be a smallmouth.

But still, it felt good. You head back down toward the bridge.

You find a deer trail and climb up the bank to the field.

It's much easier walking than over the cobble.

You get to the truck, pack up and head for home.

And now, as you write this, the bottom is falling out. It's 30 degrees heading for a low of 19. Tomorrow's predicted high is 34 degrees.

You're glad you made it out on what might have been the last nice day for a long time.