A River Runs Through It

Cut out after school to fish some more new water.  With an afternoon high of 68* I would have been a fool to not go.

I keep thinking this nice weather has got to come to an end soon.  Lately my fishing trips have been more exploration than setting the hook.

 I watched A River Runs Through It last weekend.  From the opening line, "In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing", to the last, "I am haunted by waters".


 I replayed it in my mind as I shadowed cast, roll cast, flipped and pitched my panther martin into each and every hole  along brush creek.

I've lined up several beautiful stretches of  private land to fish this past year.  It gets me back into some very remote areas.


 Geologically the high cliffs rising some 100 feet above the stream are really a region feature you will find here in the driftless region.  The algific slopes that produce cold air during summer, creating climate conditions much cooler than surrounding areas.  Canada yew is one of the unique plants found on Driftless Area.  My father, a former Game Warden,  pointed these unique cold climate plants out to me as a child, as we fished the upper end of the Maquoketa at Backbone state park. These shrub of Canada’s boreal forests, have been separated from the main population in isolated patches, are considered disjunct populations. There are many climate relict species and disjunct populations living on the Driftless Area algific slopes of  North Eastern Iowa.


 One hundred years ago nearly every deep valley in these parts had a pristine trout stream running through it.  The call of the kingfisher reminds me just how remote the area in the center of the section is.  Just down stream i startled a small heard of deer that's been bedding down in the valley.  It was just opening shot gun season and I was glad to see a few nice bucks still out there.


This time of year the sun sets early, so my time along the stream is limited by the fading day light.  But if I'm blessed with another beautiful afternoon  you can bet I'll stop in to wet a line and maybe next time I'll get a chance to set the hook.