biting flies.

[StormFront]

ok, i'm a bit new to ontario but there is something i just can't figure out...

i went fishing out of oswego yesterday with a friend of mine. we started early and around 10 or 11am these flies started showing up on the boat. they look like a regular house fly, but they bite. they bite hard. real hard. but when we saw the first fly, we must have been at least 3 to 4 miles offshore. how the %$#@ do they get out there? maybe lake O has a strange sense of humor? as in, weather wise you can have a perfect day on the lake but you're going to pay for it with no fish and getting eaten alive.

seriously though, the water fleas were HORRIBLE. had to pull the lines in every 20 minutes or the line would be covered. i use 20lb test. would switching to 30 help?

[rustyrat]

The flies are called stable flies and they are nasty. Yes switch to 30lb. Much better.

RR

[FISHINMAN]

Stormfriont the hatch out there to begin with and are nasty critters. They'll bite right through a pair of heavy socks too.

There was another post about them on here and there might have been something about how to combat them. Not sure though but worth looking up in a search.

[jekyll]

The flies are so bad right now that the salmon are reluctant to come up top side.

[jobena]

Skin So Soft works GREAT to combat the flies!!!!

[salmonbound1]

on this try note try this scope the organal put it on a towel wipe around your ankels and they will stop biting try last week up at o town work good even the customer even like it

[FX]

Second the skin-so-soft, but it wears off and the flies know when it does! Have heard that Scope works great for spraying around your deck/porch to keep mosquito's away. Will have to try it on the boat. I know if your out hiking during "bug" season, put a fabric softener sheet in your shirt collar and you'll be fine. Haven't tried that on the boat yet either, but drastic times call for drastic measures!!!!!

Shawn

[chinook]

There was post on another site that mentioned about the biting flies. Best suggestion there was to take a new guy, have him wear white socks and go without a shirt In all seriousness, they are almost nonexistent when we have a dry Canadian air mass. When the air is more humid, they rear their ugly head.

[skipper19]

I've noticed they prefer ankle meat....and I've also noticed that at least one commercial fly and insect repellent (can't remember the name) DOESN'T WORK :shock: maybe yard guard fogger? THE BITES ITCH FOR WEEKS...everytime I walk or get my feet hot and the socks work around my ankles....it's scratch itch scratch cycle time :evil:

[chinook]

S19- As strange as it sounds that is why I mentioned about the white socks. When I wear a pair of light grey socks, they are not nearly as bad as when wearing white. Last week while fishing out of the Oak, my Penn Yan which is whiteish in color had them gathered on the outsides. Something about the color of white that they are really attracted to.

[StormFront]

interesting that you guys keep talking about white. my mercury motor was covered a lot worse than anything else on the boat. maybe it was the heat of the motor more than the color.

[dirtyworm]

It's not the color of your motor its the CO2 that it emits. Flies and other insects are naturally attracted to CO2 because they think it comes from an animal breathing. To bad you cant troll with just an electric motor.

[CBish]

Go to BASS PRO.com and order their lifetime hunting socks. They are think, grey and the flies do not bite through them. 2nd year wearing them and although they are a bit warm---NO BITES!!

CC

[Fishstix]

The secrete is not to swat them.

You kill one and a hundred show up for the funeral...

[FISHINMAN]

Stix nice to see your still around how's things? We miss you on here

[Mick]

Stix - You are exactly right. As soon as you kill one , the rest come to feed. Any fish blood anywhere on the boat attracts them bad. Everyone on the boat slapping or swatting at flies is pretty distracting for serious fishing also. I believe they hatch on the water. -Mick

[buckshot]

We got chewed up. it was horrible. hope the state foggs the lake. lol

A can of raid would help. next time I will be fogging the little @$#$#@'s.

Good luck!

[ray koziatek]

Yes they do hatch on the water as you know usually the further out the worse the flys, when i get home the next day or two any fly left in the cabin is dead which also tells you there life span is short. I belive when you kill one (splatter it) on you you instantly cover that area with (feramones) they use to locate each other for mating thats why so many flock to the site of the funeral....this is just my therory and im sticking to it....

[skipper19]

(feramones) they use to locate each other for mating thats why so many flock to the site of the funeral....this is just my therory and im sticking to it....

Imagine the turn out at funerals everywhere if WE were like that, Ray No black ....just buffy

[Fishtails]

Repel insect repellent w/ 40% deet. Worked like a charm for everyone on the boat this past weekend.

[Steve Cuddeback]

I tried the thermocell and it kept about 90 % of the flies away. Word of caution, do not run it under the hardtop without ventilation will give you a sore throat.

[JR]

Maybe it works on flies to, I haven't tried it yet

Mosquito Spray...Worth a try

I was at a deck party awhile back, and the bugs were having a ball biting everyone. A man at the party sprayed the lawn and deck floor with Listerine, and the little demons disappeared. The next year I filled a 4-ounce spray bottle and used it around my seat whenever I saw mosquitoes. And voila! That worked as well.. It worked at a picnic where we sprayed the area around the food table, the children's swing area, and the standing water nearby. During the summer, I don't leave home without it.....Pass it on.

OUR FRIEND'S COMMENTS: I tried this on my deck and around all of my doors. It works - in fact, it killed them instantly. I bought my bottle from Target and it cost me $1.89. It really doesn't take much, and it is a big bottle, too; so it is not as expensive to use as the can of Bug-spray you buy that doesn't last 30 minutes. So, try this, please. It will last a couple of days. Don't spray directly on a wood door (like your front door), but spray around the frame. Spray around the window frames, and even inside the dog house .

.

[lrg355]

We call 'em VAMPIRE FLIES. I know they just laugh at commercial repellants.

[jekyll]

I may have found the solution! We wear shorts because it's hot but that's what brings on the flies. I figured that a pant and shirt of a very light fabric could be cool enough to wear while also keeping the flies at bay. I purchased Columbia Bahama II shirts to test and they work great. They are extreamly cool. I got a short sleeve and several long sleeve shirts. First, I tried the short sleeve it was very comfy. Last weekend I tried the long sleeve and found it to be nearly as cool as the short sleeve. The wind cuts through these easily. Here's link to the shirts:

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templ ... 00018&rid=

As for pants, I drove to a near by Cabelas (Being an hour from a Cabelas is a blessing and a curse) and bought a pair of light nylon fishing pants. They have zip off legs and drain holes in all the pockets. I wore these all last weekend and never got bit by a fly while remaining as cool as if wearing shorts and T-shirts. I had my wife hem them long so they bunch up around my ankles when sitting to keep the buggers away. I got soaked in a rain storm and my clothing was completely dry in less than 20 minutes. I coudn't find the pants on the Cabelas web site but they have a Cabelas Outdoors tag inside so they are a Cabelas branded item.

Here's a picture of the clothing:

Thants my 32# king from 8/10/08.

[ray koziatek]

ivebeen trying womens stockings they make me feel sexy and the flies dont get me...............Hey i was listining to a fish tip program in ohio and they said the #1 repellent for fish is bug repellent its designed to kill and the fish dont like it either, then they said hand soap with sents is bad due to the chemicle used for sent,specially the soap with the bacteria killer in it,then he went on to say gas and oil ant all that bad as the fish dont seem to mind the smell,and that makes sence considering the number of times ive heard poeple say they spray spoons with wd 40 as a attractant.