The Black Gnats are back in force at Piru Creek.  I've metioned before that I call these little suckers "flying ticks", and maybe that's what pissed them off.  I went fishing with Hank (my Golden Retriever) yesterday for less than two hours, but it's going to cost me a week of painful itching.

Never before have I been attacked by more than one at a time, but yesterday I was routinely shaking off 3 - 4 at a time.  I was wearing a long sleeve shirt, so it's just my hands that were bitten.  Now, it might occur to a normal person to put on bug spray, but my experience has taught me that these gnats like the spray so I didn't bring any.  Also, I fear that spraying my hands will taint the nymphs resulting in far fewer strikes.

My hands normally have thick veins right near the surface.  I am a nurses dream for starting an IV - they can't miss.  Notice the smooth look of my hands today.  It reminds me of a line from Pink Floyd's song from the "The Wall"; Comfortably Numb "...and my hands felt just like two balloons..."

Yeah, it sucks.  I had planned to go out all day today, but now I'll wait until Sunday.  The bites will last at least a week, but hopefully it wont be as bad then... we'll see.  My suggestion is to use bug spray.  Use it freely.

The upside: I killed 'em with a size #16 and #18 black gnat on the surface.  Even when the small dry fly sunk it still got strikes.