Brook Trout Streams in the Heat of Summer

The other day I spent some time checking the conditions on a bunch of local brook trout streams. What I found was not great.
The first stream I checked was lower than I expected but probably cooler than it would have been were it up as a few shallow ponds expel water into it, especially after a lot of rain. It was 69 degrees.

Skip.

The next stream comes out of a reservoir but the dam is surface draw. It was 78 degrees despite a great flow.

Definitely skip.

Stream number three also descends from a stillwater. Unlike the others I had not caught brook trout there. 82 degrees. There's why. 

S K I P. 

Stream four was cooler, being a mountain freestone with only a few small beaver pools way up the watershed. But it still wasn't comfortably cold at a balmy 72 degrees. 

Okay, stream six. Finally, fishable water temperatures! 65 degrees. I'll take it. My plans to catch a bunch of fish were foiled though when a mink made his presence known. NO! I had to hike a fair distance past where I saw the mink to find unspooked brookies. I caught just one, on a caddis pupa. The day, then was made worth while.

But I decided then I needed something more, and with time running out and temperatures being as high as they were I didn't want to bother any more brook trout. So I went to bother some snakes. 

This outcropping has become such a reliable spot if I want to photograph one Connecticut's most spectacular animals. It's no secret, I love snakes and timber rattlesnakes hold a special place in my heart. They are so impressive. A garter snake is a dainty little creature, sleek and smooth and light.  Timber rattlesnakes are massive. Thick. Heavy. Rough. Their scales look like dried seeds. Their heads give away they mean business. As with any pit viper their venom sacs make them look diamond shaped rather than round.