Mosquitoes so big........

....... they have to kneel to bite you! And the black flies are the
worse I have ever seen. Add to that the fact that the river is running
at flood stage (8000 cfs when I got here on Sunday), and it equals a
miserable trip..... Well, not really.

Although there are few places to wet a fly on the river, it is
uncrowded. The high flows keep the locals from walking/biking in, and
the camp is empty except for your intrepid reporter. Instead of eating
alone I have been invited into the kitchen each day to eat with the
owners/workers. Long table, long stories, long time friends, to say
nothing of the beautiful Russian girls here for a summer of work before
they return to university. Wayno, get thee to an airport!

I was totally stumped fishing on Monday morning. I did not know what
the fish wanted. I saw a very big brookie finning, but I could not see
what he was taking. Probably BWOs. I tried some and they were
ignored; not even a come-up-and-look-see.

With the water running so very high, the only real place to fish is the
eddy on the south shore of the river at the dam. The leaks in the dam
(I know, scary!) form a pretty good run-off into the river, while the
back eddy of the river forms a fairly big pool. These areas are
usually full of fish, but I was totally baffled by what they wanted. I
tried all my favorite nymphs, including some big ones (#16), and dries
including caddis and mayfly. Nothing!

By pure chance I found a really beat-up Henryville Special. This is
one of my go-to flies on this river, but I had none in my boxes except
for this pathetic looking example. Wing torn, hackle bent, I tied it
on and gently cast it into one of the currents caused by the leaks.
BAM! The fight finally was on! A fair size male brookie, about 17
inches, had ingested the hobo-looking fly. I was fishing off of the
fartherest runway at the dam, with a usual drop to the water of about 6
feet, making it difficult to land any fish. However, the river was so
high that the water was now only about a foot from the top of the
decking. One swoop with my net and Mr Brookie was in hand. I was
disappointed to see several hook wounds in his lips, but other than
that he was a healthy and perfect specimen. A quick release and I was
back to my job of fooling fish.

A few minutes later and I landed an 18 inch land lock salmon, followed
by two more small ones. Not too bad for a river spoiled by flood
waters.

On Tuesday the dam keeper lowered the water to 5600 cfs. You hardly
noticed a difference, although the water in fact dropped by at least 6
inches. A new seam opened up between the runways. I worked it for a
good hour without even a hint of a strike. Back to the far side. By
chance Whit had 8 Henryville Specials on hand at the lodge. My fly box
now contains 8 normal looking well dressed Henryvilles, and one hobo in
tattered clothes. I tied on the Hobo (of course!) and within the first
hour had two big salmon (18+ inches) and two small (12 inchers) salmon.
No brookies, big or small.

I don't know how, but the nocturnal type of mosquito got into the cabin
last night as I was enjoying the movie QBVII. The diurnal variety of
mosquitoes up here in the Maine woods are bad enough, but the nocturnal
ones are worse. They remove flesh when they bite, and bite they did.
I got little rest because of them. I finally got out of bed about 5:30
and had a cup of coffe made at 6 when the electricity came on. After
breakfast I was debating on whether to head for the river, or go back
to bed and let the day time skeeters have their way with me. As luck
would have it, thunder storms were in the neighborhood with loud claps
and bright flashes. Not wanting to tempt the gods by waving a
conductive stick in the air, I retired to my bedroom and three more
hours of sleep sans mosquitoes of any kind.

Refreshed and well fed, I plan on hitting the river after this is
written. More to follow.

Dave