PURPLE REIGN
A ribbon of blue water wound down out of a steep mountain range. Easy to cross or wade in almost any of its reaches and emerging from a deep gorge, this river held trout—rainbows and browns—that were seldom fished over. The river was new to me, but the trout were as old as time.
Someone handed me a Purple Haze to try, a dry fly tied for Montana waters. Resembling a Parachute Adams but tied in purple, it could suggest anything from a Blue Winged Olive to a Green Drake. Trout rose to the fly in every run that day, and the Purple Haze has been synonymous in my mind with prospecting for trout in clear, shallow waters ever since.
Ten years later, while fishing small streams in Utah, I thought about
