Hooked on a feeling

NORTH WINDHAM, Maine -- In the steady whir of the river current, Dale Dupuis had that recognizable look that crosses the face of many fly-fishermen -- a contentment bordering on Zen.

Never mind that a cold rain was pounding or that the stream was swollen and running so fast, his chance of hooking into a trout was about that of catching lightning in a jar. Over and over, Dupuis neatly rolled his line, arcing it overhead until his emerger fly landed delicately on the fast-moving wavelets.

It was Tuesday on the Presumpscot River, a cool, clear-running outlet of Sebago Lake. Even late in the season when streams are getting bony and drying up, the Presumpscot remains at a fishable flow, and in the rain we've been having, it's a torrent.

One after another, anglers arrived, looked out on that intimidating height of water, and headed back to their cars. It's OK to get wet in the rain if the fishing is worth it, after all, but that's plain impossible.

But it didn't seem so to Dupuis, a man who lives to fly-fish.

That he is from Seattle may explain why he is unfazed by rain, but fishing in a swollen, fast-running stream? He says it's just a pleasure to be outside with a fishing rod.

''I thought about turning around and going, but I figured, well, I'm here," said Dupuis. ''After all, if we were the kinds of people who had to catch fish, we wouldn't be fishing in the first place."

Having put his finger squarely on the fly-fishing conundrum of the age, Dupuis curled his line out once more in three delicate, deft arcs -- bright green loops over his head.

You see, there is good reason for Dale Dupuis's mellow contentedness.

Dupuis found himself in the Portland area this week because he accompanied his wife, Patricia, a biologist, who was attending a conference. Dupuis, 55, decided to take early retirement from his work as a carpenter, and now travels with his wife when she attends such meetings around the country.

''It's pretty good," he said with a knowing smirk. ''Next week we're going to Minnesota to fish for walleye."

Nor is fishing particularly seasonal for Dupuis. ''Where we live, things don't ice over, so there's always something to fish for . . . steelhead, sea run trout. Always something. But it's always fly-fishing with me."

He does have his favorites, though, and when he talks about fishing for pike, Dupuis gets positively animated.

''Oh, man, pike fishing -- everyone should definitely try pike. It's just the best. Those fish hit at over 30 miles an hour. They can accelerate from a standing stop to that speed in half their body length. Just wonderful -- they'll make a couple of hits. I just love it. The flies are big, you know? I'm going to Alberta June 18 for some pike fishing."

Because it's an outlet of Sebago -- one of the original landlocked salmon waters in the Northeast -- the Presumpscot has its share of salmon, but anglers should note the special restrictions on parts of the river.

It is also well stocked with brook and brown trout, and remains one of the most accessible rivers that still has wild fish to pursue. Route 35 (Route 115 from Grey) from North Windham reaches the Presumpscot, which is on the east side of the lake.

While Sebago Lake gets very busy as the season warms up, we have little proof that will happen this year. Second only to Moosehead, Sebago is still a huge expanse of nearly 46 square miles with an incredible depth of 315 feet. From ice out in April, the boats begin their pursuit of landlocks as the fish are near the surface. Lake trout are also very active in the early season, but anglers on the lake this week say the shortened season, owing to the temperatures, will ensure a longer trout and salmon season, perhaps well into July.

When the water does warm, the fish are there but head deeper, and in Sebago that usually means trolling with downriggers. One reason Dupuis was on the Presumpscot this week is the simplicity of driving his rental car to the generous parking lot at the bridge on Route 35, rather than making arrangements to get on a boat.

Other such spots where shore anglers can cast for salmon well into June are the Songo and Muddy rivers -- both to the northeast quadrant of lake, and also the Tenny, which connects Sebago to Crescent Lake. And if the warm weather does arrive, Sebago becomes one of the best warmwater species spots in New England, especially around the islands such as Dingley and Sheep, and the shoal water between Long Beach and the mouth of the Muddy.

However, this fishing doesn't quite get the enthusiasm from coldwater aficionados and their lust for what Sebago is best known for, hence the biological name for landlocked salmon -- Salmo sebago -- a species whose ancestors were sea run fish that got trapped by glacial movement thousands of years ago.