As I stumbled around in the current, getting my bearings, I saw a flash of orange downstream. A tangerine darter danced through the current effortlessly. It swam past us and around us unafraid, almost mocking our lack of coordination. This was the darter’s element, not ours.
Over the next few hours, I’d see dozens of fish species, many in the bright, iridescent colors of freshwater aquarium fish. It was mating season so even some of the dullest darters flashed brightly. Schools of shiners and minnows followed me up stream, taking shelter from the current. Lumpy sculpin, utterly confident in their rocky camouflage, let us get within inches of their hiding places. A rainbow trout darted past us, a knife through the water.
Watts-bar-lake
Tennessee
United-states
Little-river
Georgia
Chattanooga
Alabama
French-broad-river
North-carolina
Cherokee-national-forest
Asheville
Great-smoky-mountains-national-park