On Father's Day 2006 I will not be in the best place on earth -- that would be with my wonderful offspring, Nicole and Sara -- but I will be in one of the best places on earth, on the shore of a Maine lake. Specifically, Kennebago Lake, where large wild brook trout roam, and I'll be living the good life at the venerable Grant's Camps Go to Grant's website.

Before leaving the subject of Father's Day, I will say one of the nicest gifts I ever got is a beautiful leather fly wallet, my initials embossed into the leather. It was handmade by a craftsman named Arne Mason on the West Coast. He makes a number of high-quality leather goods for sportspeople, including fly wallets, rod cases, reel cases and cigar cases. Good stuff -- and this is a totally unsolicited testimonial. Go to Arne's website.

Kennebago isn't far from my own camp, but I love to fish in Kennebago Lake, and in the gorgeous pools of the Kennebago River, and in the more languid waters of the Logans which connect Little Kennebago Lake with its big brother. Great water, all of it.

I fished my home water, Upper Dam, last week with modest success: a 10-inch brook trout who had the ego to chase a tandem streamer rig as long as himself. Other anglers were slightly more successful, but the pool's time hadn't arrived yet. One angler I met, though, felt the pool's time had long gone.

"I've fished in this pool for 45 years," he said. "We used to regularly land 6-pound salmon and 3-4-pound brook trout. The problem is the lake's gone to hell," he said, waving a hand towards Richardson Lake. "The smelts practically disappeared, and so did the big trout and salmon. They stocked alewives to make up for it, but it's never been the same."

That's a story worth researching. Maybe someone's already done it. What's happened to the food supply in that long chain of water, from Rangeley to Cupsuptic to Mooselookmeguntic to the Richardsons, upper and lower, and on down the Rapid to Umbagog and the Androscoggin? There are still whopping big trout in the Rapid, though they are threatened by someone's deliberate and despicable introduction of smallmouth bass. But above Middle Dam there's been a long decline in the numbers and size of trout and landlocked salmon. One problem was the netting to near-extinction in the 19th century of the blueback trout, which the bigger brook trout and salmon feasted on, coupled with the voracious predations of anglers who, to judge from the old photos, killed every fish they caught.

Still, there are times...hit the right day and the right fly, wear the right shirt and bend your arm just so, and good numbers of large fish will bend your rod.

Off to Baxter State Park today, a float down the West Branch Thursday, and Kennebago for the weekend. I'll report on the proceedings when I emerge from the woods.