"snakefiddler" wrote
(snip)

it was pretty cool - one more addition to my collection of memorable
sightings experienced while fishing.

any of ya'll ever seen this before?

your interesting little vignette puts me in mind of one of the most
memorable sights i have ever beheld while astream. the fact that you have
now visited hazel creek may help you appreciate the scenario.
pamlico jim and i had planned to walk up past the second bridge to begin
our fishing, and as we neared our jumping in spot, we stopped at the
"measuring station" pool, the biggest pool on hazel, to rest for a moment.
the tail is split by an island, and the old, rusting iron pole that measured
water height for log floating back in the twenties marks the head. i
suppose the pool is thirty or forty yards long and twenty or thirty yards in
diameter, and over a man's head at its deepest point. the water is, of
course, gin clear.
we stood there on the jeep road, idly staring into the gorgeous water
for maybe a couple minutes, when we were startled by the sudden emergence
from the white water at the pool's head of a trout about a foot long,
streaking downstream on the far side of the pool. right behind him, and i
mean *on his tail* was the largest fish i ever saw in hazel; over two feet
of ****ed off rainbow. the pair turned right, towards the road, at the
pool's tail, and circled back up to the measuring station at warp speed.
when they reached the pool's head, the "little" fish lept out of the big,
white water like a salmon headed to his spawning place, and disappeared into
the smaller pools upstream.
the entire incident took only seconds from start to finish. neither jim
nor i had a chance to utter a word until it was over. we caught our breath
and nearly shouted to each other things like "jesus, did you see that!" "my
god, the size of that trout!" "he was gonna *eat* that foot long rainbow,
for god's sake!", etc.
at any rate, since that day, each time we pass that pool, we always stop
for a few minutes and stare into the pool and into the past, hoping to see
that remarkable display re-enacted. i reckon we have been by there more
than fifty times since, but no luck in further fantasies.
hazel is a pretty place, now ain't it, jen...

yfitp
wayno