Odd Pictures from Trout Streams

I don't know if I skunked this day or not. I didn't catch any trout, but, um... does this count? (He grabbed onto my Pink Squirrel nymph as it drifted along the bottom and held on for dear life with his pincers.)

This is my friend Brad's English Setter named Penny, framed against a sunset during the short drive between landings after a float trip.

My frequent fishing partner Brad Bohen spotted and photographed this beer poster in Brule, WI. He's got a good eye for trout, and this one looked familiar. Sure enough, it's a 15 incher I caught on the Beaverkill in the Catskills in August 2004 on an emergent sparkle pupa. I posted it here.

This is one of my favorite pictures -- I think it really captures the character of the place. This is the view from the south of Sukakpak Mountain, a prominent landmark on the south side of the Brooks Range. The Dalton Highway winds in an arc around Sukapak, providing very different views from different angles.

This poster shows a mink, but when I made up the poster I thought it was an otter. Now you know why I'm not a trapper. It was a pretty big mink.

Snowden Mountain in the Brooks Range, viewed here from the north, is one of the most impressive peaks along the Dalton Highway. It's coloration is striking in the evening light out of the west.

The Gulkana Glacier is an iconic landmark for north-bound travelers (or, I suppose, south-bound travelers looking north) on the Richardson Highway. Thankfully, its silty runoff drains not into the Gulkana River drainage but into Phelan Creek in the Yukon drainage instead.

This partial solar eclipse today was most prominent across parts of Siberia, the Arctic Ocean, and Scandanavia, but I caught the outer edge of it here in Fairbanks, Alaska. I went out to a quiet spot next to the Tanana River behind the airport, and shot this composite photo of several short exposures of the sun during the eclipse, and one longer exposure at the end, capturing the thin clouds that crept into the frame.

Talk about a bad hair day. This chartreuse/everglow deceiver had been through about 15 northern pike already.