When asked, Why do you fish? anglers often reply that the fish are found in some of the most beautiful places on the planet. I think this is especially true of trout and salmon, a notion that was brought to mind last weekend by three spectacular days at the Upper Dam pool. Though the environment is tamed by the row of cozy camps, the broad mowed lawn, and of course the dam itself, Upper Dam is a place of great natural beauty. To stand in the pool is to place oneself in a sort of grand open-air IMax theater, under a dome of deep blue sky. Your wader-clad legs feel the timeless rush of cold freshwater on its course to the sea; you stand amid the company of ducks, loons, Canada geese, minks, the occasional moose feeding along the shore (or at the damkeeper's apple tree) and the great soaring eagles that nest in the tall pines nearby. For three days in a row the daytime sky was populated by the sort of clouds that in imagination become faces and creatures -- I thought of N.C. Wyeth's wonderful painting, Giant -- and the nights were ushered in by jaw-dropping sunsets which morphed minute by minute from one indescribable palette to another even more beautiful. There were times when we, the Bro and I, just stood and gaped, our lines trailing off unminded in the current, and gave silent thanks for simply being there.

The fishing? Aw, you don't want to know about that, do you?

The fishing was not bad, actually (as if fishing could ever be bad). There were quite a few small brook trout and salmon taking the fly, and occasionally we would tie into a pretty good salmon that would entertain the assembled anglers with its acrobatics until it was brought to net and released. A modest caddis hatch was in progress and fish holding at the tail of the pool would smack an elk-hair caddis or an Adams with satisfying gusto.

Darkness arrives late in mid-June, but it eventually does, and when we could no longer see our lines or trust our footing in the black water we took the short walk to camp, shucked our boots and waders, lit the gas lamps and sat down to cold beer and hot beans and felt like kings.