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]