This post is short and sweet because I don’t want to distract
from the photo. I took this shot last week on the Klickitat River, a tributary
of the Columbia River in Washington State. Aaron O’Leary (Angler’s Obsession),
Jeff Brazda, and I had a rare day off and did some scouting and goofing off. Once the hangovers wore off a bit, many nice fish were hooked, and we landed a
few in some new little pockets each of us had been wondering about.
This is a photo of a fish Aaron landed and it was the very last image of the set. In
fact, the session involved a series of normal grip and grins, then AO went to
release the fish as I was putting the camera away. The buck’s gills flared in
the current with each breath and Aaron proclaimed, “Wow look at that
cheek-patch!”
I turned around to see the late afternoon sunlight beaming
on the fish’s head. The scarlet cheek-patch, though not as large and defined as
that of some of the other steelhead we land, was highlighted with brilliant
hues of pink, purple, red, and orange. The fish’s eye, full of life and ready
to be released back to the river, complimented with teal colored “eye-shadow”
as we call it. The image was inspiring enough to take my camera out of the case
once again and snap a few quick close-ups. I hope you enjoy this photo as much
as I do.
