Nature Pictures from Trout Streams, Page 121

My wife bushwhacks through some dwarf birch on our way up into the mountains. There's no trail.

This nice grayling (about 17 inches) was the lone resident of a deep, practically still-water pool in a low-flow side channel of the upper river.

I coaxed it out with a risky sidearm cast into a narrow window under some low-hanging brush, a feat about which I must brag to make myself feel better about my next several attempts at impressive casts, all of which resulted in wading across the river and spoiling the pool to retrieve the fly from a tree.

A dinky grayling in most places, this one was a lunker for this stream.

Dall Sheep in Denali National Park.

This golden eagle is soaring through Denali National Park.

Releasing the big one