Headed to the infamous "Mystery" River last week for a few days.

Arrived Tuesday afternoon and fished downstream from my camping spot. Last time I was here I caught most of my fish in the first two holes downstream. Not this time. The water was much clearer than it had been on previous trips, and the fish weren't holding in the same water. I did catch a short but fat brown pretty quickly though.



Followed him up with a few more small browns, all caught on streamers (this one on a weighted PSC):



Unfortunately, I missed a huge rainbow. I was dead drifting a big streamer and wasn't really paying attention at the moment (something distracted me, who knows what). Anyway, I felt my line get tight, and I pulled on it a little bit, but it felt like I was just snagged on a rock or log or whatever. So I didn't set the hook. Next thing I knew, the head of a massive rainbow came straight through the surface and threw my fly. I could have put my fist in his mouth. Groan. Double groan. But all it is now is a fish story...

This river is fed by several small springs like this one all along its length:



As I got closer to get a picture of it, something popped out:



This spring was also the home to at least three very curious otters. I was really surprised at how close they let me come to them. I easily got within 10 feet before they finally retreated for good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzebugR-XZM