For some, it’s the summer of love

THE OTHER DAY I was shooting my longbow in the woods when it occurred to me that there must not be any mosquitoes in Sherwood Forest. Because, quite frankly, no one could possibly muster up the focus to split an arrow 50 yards downrange when there is a swarm of hungry mosquitoes looking for a patch of bare skin to dine on.

Around here, we’ve had a bad year for mosquitoes.

Well, I guess that depends on your perspective. If you are the person whose blood flow is being diverted into the mosquitoes, it’s probably been a horrible year. On the other hand, if you are a mosquito, you are probably having the time of your life.

I recently heard one entomologist refer to this spring and summer as being a mosquito’s dream – the summer of love in fact. He actually said that the wet weather we have is ideal for breeding.

I thought this was great, until I realized he wasn’t suggesting alternatives to fishing.

In fact, I’m guessing this is probably a horrible year for humans in the romance department. After-Bite, Deet and the sudden compulsion to scratch and scream “damn bugs!” are not entirely conducive to

seduction – at least in my experience.

All this is to say, this year, when someone says “I’ve got an itch to scratch” he or she probably talking about the one caused by a mosquito bite. But I digress. I mostly feel sorry for those learning how to fish.

Imagine, if you will, the instruction new fly casters must be getting this year.

They go out with their mentor for a morning and then realize that – even though it is not often shown on YouTube – fly casting includes slapping the back of your neck and calf simultaneously while swearing in mid-cast and ducking sharp hooks.

Suddenly, the sport might not seem as genteel as it’s portrayed.

All this is because, in my experience at least, mosquitoes zero in on archers and fly casters most.

That’s because each is focusing on their target and have both hands occupied. If you are a mosquito, that’s about as risk free as it gets.

The solution has always been insect repellent. Unfortunately, you sweat or wash it off when you take the inevitable dunking in the river.

Luckily, I have come up with another original idea.

It occurred to me that mosquitoes do not seem to bother those who are playing tennis – I’ve never once seen anyone at Wimbledon complain.

I suspect the bugs stay away because those athletes with their rackets appear to be practically waiting in ambush.

It is precisely because of this that I am now considering marketing a line of fly fishing and archery clothing that look like at lot like the tennis shorts and tee shirt that I once bought when I thought I might try to take up the sport. If you buy the complete package you’ll get rackets and a net too.

Look, I know you might feel silly setting up a net over your favourite trout stream or archery target but it will all be worth it when you find out the bugs are steering wide.

At least I hope that’s the end result. It’s actually very hard to predict how mosquitoes will react to any tennis-related items this year. There are no guarantees.

As previously noted, for mosquitoes, this just might be the summer of love.