Long-sleeved shirts were buttoned up through the collar button and down through the cuffs. If I'da had gloves, I woulda worn them, too. Bandannas bridged the gap between collar and headnet. I'd always sorta smugly thought that anyone who didn't own a headnet had never really camped in Canoe Country. But this was the first time I had ever been driven to paddle in one.
Trouble is, black flies have an uncanny and unpleasant knack for finding the chink in any armor.
They'll attack through any tiny gap in your defenses. That little rip in the knee of your pants becomes reserved seating dining for twelve. That gap in your shirtsleeve above the cuff button seems HUGE when the black flies are swarming. Any opening, no matter how small, that leads to unprotected flesh will have black flies frenzying to get in. And black flies do frenzy.