Where I was is a smaller, heavily brush covered stream. The banks are overgrown with vegetation & trees are towering overhead. There are very few places to fish this stretch of stream without wading. Of course that didn't stop me from trying. Unfortunately, try as I might, I just couldn't get into a good position to the trout anywhere from dry land. I considered going back in, getting my foot wet again (for the third time) to cast & fish as quickly as I could in the hopes that I might land at least one fish that day. But that water was so cold......
With limited options I decided to take some time to really study this stream for my return trip when I would have a new pair of waders. Sitting high on a bank, I found a place where I was able to look down onto the stream. There I watched several trout feeding under the cover of a fallen tree. As each trout had staked out it's position, I was fascinated by how each one seemed to have its own method of feeding.
Some would just sit in the drift not moving at all & only taking food that would have otherwise hit them square on the nose. Others would float up & down in elevation to take a meal. The most interesting of the trout to watch were those who would rut around with their noses on the soft bottom for food. This was very similar to the way a pig uses it's snout to look for food. Every time I would see the white flash of a trout mouth opening, I would wonder exactly what they just ingested.
I don't know how long I sat there, but I'm sure it was quite a while. I remembered that this was something I used to do a lot more often - just sit & watch the trout. It seems that lately I've gotten away from this & I really shouldn't because I seem to learn something new every time I do. Even though I wasn't able to catch a one of them, these trout still provided me with a very pleasant way to spend my time.