“Hey, what kind of snake is that?”
I think we all know, but somebody had to ask. Six of us are standing on a sandy little beach, the water to our left, somewhere on the Gauley River: Dave, Tim, Tim’s brother Terry, yours truly and two fishing guides, Adam and Kyle of the West Virginia Experience. Dave and Tim are my childhood hunting, fishing and trapping buddies, and we became known as the Big Three. When this annual fishing trip commenced a few years ago, Terry joined us and it became the Big Three Plus One.
The snake in question was no problem, but it came swimming into the bank where we had stopped for lunch, and you know how snakes are – it immediately captured everyone everyone’s attention. I figured even the worst student in Zoology 101 could see it was a common brown water snake, but any snake in the water is going to conjure up some mention of a water moccasin, also known as a cottonmouth, when guys and fishermen are involved. In truth, I doubt there was a cottonmouth within 400 miles of here, and not in this water – it was cold! We were near the headwaters of the Gauley, and no self-respecting cottonmouth would be caught dead there.
After just the slightest bit of encouragement, the water snake went his merry way, but we had another good memory to save, Dave, Terry, Tim and I along with two great fishing guides. Another day on a beautiful river in a wild place with good friends – there ain’t nothing much better.
And a wild place it is, as we are on a stretch of the Gauley not seen by many people. Normal summer water levels here make it suitable only for wade fishing (there’s not enough water to float), but we catch it just right after recent rains so we can float but the water is in fishable condition. In the eight-mile stretch we will cover, there are no houses, camps or humans; there isn’t even any trash along the bank. There is, however, a lot of fishing and a lot of time just floating and soaking in the river.