Halloween on the creek, and not much was happening unless you count crazy beauty, amazing leaf reflections in the stream, chickadee calls and killer blue sky with puffy clouds. Sure there would be fish after Thursday’s rain, I’d checked Leo Cronin, but it was Sunday quiet. On to the Hike and Bike pool, where I got lost watching tiny schools of tiny coho (?) darting about. No signs of spawners. At the Swimming Hole Pool, my last stop, I had moved from search mode to nature meditation.
I walked downstream a few pools, idly gazing at the alder, buckeye, bay and redwood layer cake rising before me. All of a sudden, I heard thrashing — then saw a big silver sided Chinook right in the riffle.
I had forgotten how heart-thumping it is to see your first fish of the season.
I stood there a long time, but she didn’t reappear. So she wasn’t building a redd, but still engaged in her journey.
Welcome home; may your tribe multiply!
