Last Light Rainbow
A Brief Moment of Utter Reverence
All hail, July! Let the sun warm the earth and let all that blooms flourish. May the mountain streams flush welcome cold water to the big rivers. Winooski. Lamoille. Missisquoi. Otter. Connecticut. May we all be blessed with the abundance the Earth offers. May the rhythm of the cicadas guide us to explore waters in search of the majestic rainbow trout, the hard fight of a heavy brown, the mighty tug of a laker, and the voracious attack of a mountain stream brookie. The garden has been weeded and the horse has been turned out to the lower pasture to graze on summer’s sweet grasses, we ourselves recognize the need to return to our streams and rivers. The sun slips slowly behind the distant foothills and the western sky shows brilliant salmon and helio hues. Recognizing that soon we will be enveloped in darkness, we toss our last fly into the ripples at the tail of the big river’s currents. A big, bold, and easily visible White Wulff flies out on a trajectory with a landing just below the tiny wavelets. We squint to watch the deceiver spin and flow in tempo with the speed of the river’s acquiescence to the large rocks beneath the surface. We watch with tunnel concentration as it rides out the tail. The gaudy fly slows down at the end of the ripples and we begin to lift the six-weight rod to begin another cast. Suddenly the surface erupts with a volcanic plume. A big fish propels itself into the darkening sky, flashing his flanks of pink and silver illuminated by the last of the daylight. The reel begins to scream. The tip of the rod bows downward. Lifting the rod to maintain pressure, the world stops spinning for a few minutes. All that is life, all that is joy, all that is love is connected to this magnificent being on a hair-thin tippet tied to the Wulff. The battle is the definition of our own survival. In the moment that our net scoops the fish from behind its tired body, we feel the connection with our own mortality. Freeing the hook and holding the exhausted rainbow with its tail with our right we cradle the belly of the fish with our left outstretched palm. The words “thank you” come up from deep inside our soul. A quiet smile of reverence stretches across our face as the big fish’s tail thrashes from side to side, thrusting him back into the dark pool
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