perfect day

i went to fish the bear river above the town of yampa on saturday (the bear river is one of a few streams that make up the headwaters of the yampa river). and holy crap was it beautiful. i had a meadow in late fall all to myself, below snow-capped peaks, not a cloud in the sky, just warm enough for short sleeves, and some very challenging fishing - which i did pretty well with, i must say.

at its widest, the bear is maybe one and a half car lanes wide. add to that the fact that the water is gin clear, there wasn't any tall streamside vegetation this time of year, and its flow is pretty slow - basically, the trout can see you coming from a mile away. i basically had to circle way out and around promising stretches, approach from behind (trout feed facing upstream), hunker down like i was in combat, and start casting.

i caught six fish, and i was on my knees for every one, being mr. stealthy - i hardly stood all day.

they were all wild trout - mostly 8-12" browns, and a couple of brilliantly colored and beautiful brook trout (one that was about 9 inches, the biggest one i've ever brought in). the highlight of the day was a 14 or 15 inch brown that took my dry fly - the only take on my dry fly all day. i can't imagine fish get much bigger than 14 or 15 inches in that river.

healthy, beautiful fish in a healthy, remote, and beautiful river. the american west isn't as f*%ked up as i thought.

right on.