Just returned for a wonderful few days on the NFY and a few of the great smaller creeks in the area around Downieville (I am very happy to have missed the bike classic by a week!). Good fishing early and late, even a little action in the mid day.
Wading the NFY near Sierra City I saw something I have never seen before in California waters (that is 50+ years now...), a small (16 - 18") snake coiled in a rock pocket in about 2' of water. Perfectly relaxed. Just watching the world go by. Once I startled it it rose to the surface and swam off. Brown with chevron markings of lighter brown and a very dark brown head which was sharply triangular.
Is this an anomaly? All these years the only snakes I have ever seen in California waters have been on the surface and they have all been familiar, garter, rattler (do not ask....I still get the shivers) but this one was simply "living" on the bottom.
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