Through the clear waters

“…in summer visible through the clear waters, the great trout swimming…”
-Walt Whitman, Feuillage

He shouldn’t have been in the shallow water. He shouldn’t have been in that pond at all. But there he was, and I had to get a better look.

He took my fly and then he learned to fly.

Alpine Morning

“I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore…”
-William Butler Yeats, The Lake Isle of Innisfree

Didn’t catch much.

Didn’t matter.

Both Wiser

“…ruminating on his dismal fate and the manifold perfections of Dolly Varden.”
-Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge

Twenty two inches of furious silver torpedo bulldogging and thrashing in the fog and in the line backing at night: you lose one early on, you don’t let it happen again.

She sinks into the darkwater; you walk into the fog.

Neither of you will ever let it happen again.

You Made It

I won’t say you never complained.

But you never stopped.

You provided well for your family. You were strong for us.

You worked hard and you made us proud.

Congratulations, Angel.

Now go and have a bath.

Between Heaven and Heaven

“…but he would have a parting word with charming Dolly Varden.”
-Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge

Well above the treeline and very near the rimrock, there’s a lake full of rumors. There could be giant rainbow trout in the deepest pockets. Brood stock. Monsters. Lifetime fish. Everybody knows somebody who’s caught one.

Maybe.

I’ve still yet to catch mine.

But with dolly varden below and goats above, the only problem is not believing.

Suspended between heaven and heaven on a float tube at midnight, every fish is a lifetime fish.

Sunset Sunrise

“So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed…”
-John Milton, Lycidas

Late at night we left port for the Gulf of Alaska. For hours we watched the sun not set. For hours we fished the sea floor.

There were storm petrels and jaegers, kittiwakes, puffins, murres and murrelets, sea lions, harbor seals, Dall’s porpoises, and humpback whales. The whales surrounded the boat and slept. While they slept, they snored. I can’t describe the sound.

There were halibut, lingcod, sea bass, flounder, and cod. For deep fish there is no day.

The sea was calm.

Also there was the sun.