A River runs through it

If any of you are seattleites or follow the news you know we had a pretty big rain almost a week back and there was a lot of flooding around Washington.   Today I had the pleasure to float the Skykomish river with Joe.  Joe wanted to check out how much the storm changed the river (He's a guide).  So we grabbed our fly rods ((Spey rods, which is a 2 handed fly rod that is usually 12 plus feet long, mine is 13 ft and Joes is 15 ft) and headed out.  We put the boat in at 2 bit hole (which now cost two dollars)  We ran into the owner that told us he opened up his property in 1955 for the public for only 2 bits, nice guy!  As we drove down the road of his property we quickly saw proof of the flood.  The road became covered in sand and mud, we kicked in the 4wd and parked by the river.  the bushes, grass and tree branches looked like a large comb was ran down the side of the river bank and then painted with dirt and mud.  The large log jam that use to be straight ahead of the launch sight was practically gone.  A lot of big trees had been moved by the powerful force of the water.  

It was a beautiful Nov. morning, the sun was shining and it wasn't chili at all.  Along the way some of our old fishing spots had been washed away, which was sad but we did find knew spots as well.  This trip down the river held the most ever Eagles I had scene on this river, with out exaggerating I can say I easily saw 20 plus eagles, a handful of the youngens.  We got pretty close to a lot of them, boy they always amaze me in how big they are.  We were great at the fishin part but there was no catchin happening.  Though Joe did snag a 16 inch sucker fish on the dorsal fin.  I had one good knock on my line but no one was home.  At the end of the trip we started to see some fish tails waiving at us (Frustrating).  It's nice to catch fish but that is only a added bonus to a fly-fishing outing.  We saw a deer cross a wide part of the river in a strong current.  She made it across but was swept pretty far down the river before she made to the other side.  I also saw a red-tail hawk,  There were some new log jams, different sand bars and trees blocking certain routes of the river.  Its amazing how mother earth can be so powerful and change things with a little water.  The humpies (salmon) had just starting to come in I bet there will be better luck next week.  I hope to go, I am determined to catch a hen and make caviar.  The river had great color to it.  The hills and the mountains added color to the blue and white sky and the constant sound of the river added peace to my mind.  All I know is the country is beautiful and a river runs through it, any old way it wants to run through it!