Scale Samples: An Upper Sacramento closeup

by Tom Chandler on August 28, 2006 · 7 comments

During my Upper Sacramento Grand Slam of a couple weeks ago, the my little point-and-shoot digital camera batteries were wheezing like a heavy smoker on Everest. The result was a series of underexposed photos of trout with deeply saturated scales. And when you’re given underexposed lemons, you make richly color-saturated lemonade.

Enjoy this slightly different angle on the Upper Sacramento. It’s hard to believe these colors exist on anything alive, but fish are one of the prettiest aspects of fishing. Though this is hardly a challenge for most, fish identifications are listed at the bottom. Enjoy!

Upper Sacramento River brown trout
Born here, or washed over the dam?

Rainbow gill plate
One of my favorites.

Brook trout gill plate from the Upper Sacramento River
This one’s tough, so I left in a big clue…

Brown trout on the Upper Sacramento River
It’s positively galactic looking.

Upper Sacramento River rainbow trout
Partially submerged. But completely beautiful.

Did you pass? 1. Brown Trout, 2. Rainbow Trout, 3. Brookie, 4. Brown Trout, 5. Rainbow Trout

[tags]Upper Sacramento, Grand slam, Brown Trout, Rainbow Trout, Brook trout [/tags]

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Fly Fishing News - MidCurrent
August 30, 2006 at 5:45 am

{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Murdock August 28, 2006 at 11:33 am

TC,

Those are some excellent photos! Is it wrong that I like them almost as much as the bikini girl?  

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2 Smellslikefish August 28, 2006 at 1:01 pm

Ohhhhhh, that second one’s a fish. I thought those were spots on the bikini girl’s backside, which naturally kinda cooled my ardor…
Which leads to my next question: Do you have any photos of her backside?  

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3 Tom Chandler August 28, 2006 at 4:12 pm

Murdock; It’s not morally wrong to like fish pictures more than the bikini shots (well, maybe it’s a venal sin), but the beauty of new improved (now with twice the cheesecake!) Trout Underground is that you don’t have to choose…

And smellslike – the second isn’t a fish. It actually is a sunburn…  

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4 opax August 28, 2006 at 10:16 pm

Trout are truly beautiful. They even feel beautiful when you touch them. But then again: the girl in bikini.  

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5 Bamboo Addict August 29, 2006 at 4:23 am

Does this mean I am suppose to take pictures of bikini bottoms when we are on the Rogue? ( I will start today)
David  

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6 Tom Chandler August 29, 2006 at 9:27 am

People, people! Let’s focus on the fish. After all, this is a site for hardcore fly fishers, not a MySpace page… 8-)  

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