Lake Superior Sailors...

Jackdaw · Sep 6, 2016

Welcome to the club!

On the Great Lakes we call those 'black flies'. Not the small inland black flies, but small, water-loving housefly-like bastards that BITE.

They swarm out from island to invade boats. They have caused more than one boat I know to abandon a race, and are probably responsable for the majority of full-enclosed dodgers on the lake. Some years worse than others.

Once they are inside the boat, you can close up and swat them with a fly swatter (they are slower than houseflies) or use pest strips if you can put up with that.

To keep them off you some say DEET works, we use a local formula you can buy at Pikes Bay marina. Some say Windex but that's crap. ;^)

Parsons · Sep 6, 2016

Black flies are the bane of Great Lake sailors. There is no chemical or compound that I have ever tried that worked. Old timers will tell of homemade concoctions, but that's usually followed by "... and get into an air-conditioned car leaving the area." Fortunately, they're a spring thing down here, so after July or so, we don't have the problem as much.

On a humerus note, here is a little film by your friends to the SOUTH in Canada:
http://www.nfb.ca/film/blackfly/

Scott T-Bird · Sep 6, 2016

My guess is that there is no solution. For time immemorial people have been tortured by those flies. I remember a guy telling my dad about 50 years ago that his group abandoned their planned 10-day adventure in the Boundary Waters after just one afternoon being plagued by those devils. (I don't think you can blame them on global warming

).

plenny7 · Sep 6, 2016

JohnVTX · Sep 6, 2016

My brother is a forester in Grand rapids Minnesota. They use these in the woods. They work great.
https://www.amazon.com/12-Deerfly-Patches-TredNot-Strips/dp/B0038RO1YI

Parsons · Sep 6, 2016

JohnVTX said:
My brother is a forester in Grand rapids Minnesota. They use these in the woods. They work great.

That has got to be the grossest thing on Amazon. I would much rather be bitten by a hundred horseflies than carry around dead bugs on my head!

JohnVTX · Sep 6, 2016

Parsons said:
That has got to be the grossest thing on Amazon. I would much rather be bitten by a hundred horseflies than carry around dead bugs on my head!

Have you been attacked by a bunch of them at once? If you have not, you will change your mind. Stick them by the entryways if you don't want them on your hat. The reason it goes on your hat though is they attack from behind and above you.

Sefuller · Sep 6, 2016

The lake flies bite at the ankles, the patches are for flies that circle your head - there is a difference.

Scott T-Bird · Sep 6, 2016

That advertisement didn't say anything about black flies, so I agree, the patches don't apply to this situation. There is no solution unless you use the nuclear option.

They breed in CLEAN, fresh water. You have to pollute Lake Superior to get rid of them. I don't think we have them here in New Jersey, but I hear that Pennsylvania still has them.

SFS · Sep 6, 2016

^^This.

For anyone that has not experienced these biting black flies, no description will aptly convey the magnitude of misery they cause. I lasted an hour, and only because I spent 45 minutes of it under the water, breathing through a straw with a screen over the top. I'm not kidding. I could not believe I couldn't convince the other people on the boat to leave the island we were anchored off of, until they were essentially maimed. Not a centimeter of exposed skin was welt-free.

mm2347 · Sep 7, 2016

They will stay out of the wind in the low areas of the cockpit and attack your bare legs. Bug spray blows away and is useless! When you need to stay on the tiller its madding.

lehighsail · Sep 7, 2016

Here at the Jersey coast we have the greenies that also bite ankles and what ever else is exposed or covered. We rarely go out with a west wind blowing because that seems to push them over the water. Years ago we thought the boat had gotten infested because we were 4-5 miles out into the Atlantic and we and the boat were covered. This ended when the wind shifted. Fortunately, we found that the repellant powder spray they sell at Costco seems to work. Don't remember if it is Deep Woods Off or what but comes in a greenish spray can. Not perfect but helpful.

Davidasailor26 · Sep 7, 2016

lehighsail said:
Here at the Jersey coast we have the greenies that also bite ankles and what ever else is exposed or covered.

God awful things. One step below bee stings in discomfort, but much more common. I knew of a guy with a large twin engine power boat who was aground on the NJ ICW. He chose to do thousands of dollars of prop damage powering off to get away from the greenheads.

Scott T-Bird · Sep 7, 2016

Honestly, I don't seem to have a big problem with the greenheads. They're big enough so I can feel when they land and they don't often bite right away. They also aren't skittish and they tend to land on my arms and upper legs, so I can usually kill them soon after they land and before they bite. At times, I've seen them blanket the underside of the bimini without bothering me. But they do get overwhelming at times. If there is one buzzing around me, I often just hold out one arm, wait for it to land and kill it with a slap. They don't seem to have any survival instinct!

The little gray biting flies (they look like house flies) are the ones that really annoy me. They are super aggressive and extremely skittish, so I can never kill them with a slap. I usually don't feel them when they land and they attack the ankles and the back of the neck. They also bite through socks (yeah, I do wear socks on the boat at times). These little guys are more like black flies, I think, but they don't swarm nearly as much as black flies do.

Dalliance · Sep 7, 2016

mm2347 said:
They will stay out of the wind in the low areas of the cockpit and attack your bare legs. Bug spray blows away and is useless! When you need to stay on the tiller its madding.

I've had my ankles bloodied countless times and have even been bitten through thick socks. They seem worse on light wind days. Killing them in the cockpit just attracts more. Whether standing or sitting, trying to keep your ankles in motion turns into an absurd cockpit dance, but it is the only even remotely effective way I've found to discourage the maddening little bastards. Stop for a moment though and they are right back on you.

All U Get · Sep 8, 2016

Has anyone tried Sterno? It worked while we were in the Bahama's.

All U Get

SFS · Sep 8, 2016

Burning it, or wearing it?

DougM · Sep 8, 2016

The black flies are everywhere especially early in the season. One theory is that they hatch in open water. I think Wisconsin sends them over, not out of spite, just to get them out of their dairy farms.
They wait to attack ankles until you are handling lines with both hands and can't swat them.
We have had days where the cockpit floor is black and red with their carcasses and our blood.