Greenhead flies vs Sunbrella

[Banooma]

Greenhead flies in my sailing area of Barnegat Bay are a frequent nuisance. Having a boat with Catalina blue dodger and bimini may not help. They often seem to cling to the blue cloth while they plot their attack. Or so it seems. According to a few sources, flies are attracted to blue and black, but especially not to yellow. I imagine the smell of people meat does more to attract them than anything. There's one boat i know in the bay with yellow canvas, but I've never chased it down to ask. Does anyone have the experience to compare canvas colors and their likelihood of attracting flies? Any entymologists care to chime in?

 

[Ward H]

Having a boat with Catalina blue dodger and bikini may not help.

Less exposed skin may help when the greenies are out.

 

[Ted]

We need to see the bikini.
This might help answer your question.

Color is key in controlling flies, UF researchers find - News - University of Florida

news.ufl.edu

 

[Ron20324]

As always, the darker colors heat up more than lighter, and I believe the buggers like the heat.

 

[Ward H]

Not sure if certain colors draw them but greenies sat under our dodger to get out of the wind. So much so the admiral had me remove the dodger.
I stopped the yard owner one time when I was in my truck and he was on the yard forklift. He said if I wanted to talk to him I needed to shut off my truck. He said the engine heat and vibration draws the greenies.
Maybe darker colors, which absorb more heat do draw them.

BTW, HC is just across the bay from our marina. Watched the HC fireworks from Conklin Island anchorage Labor Day weekend.

 

[BigEasy]

Had a fishing boat years ago with a white vinyl bimini top with a light blue undersurface. They liked those colors also.
Of course they would attach to the undersurface to get out of the sun and it was also a good staging area from which to launch their attack. Bug spray or fly swatter were my weapons of choice!

 

[sailnoproblem]

Not sure if certain colors draw them but greenies sat under our dodger to get out of the wind. So much so the admiral had me remove the dodger.

You are right about those little bastards, they seem to like the underside of the dodger to get out of the wind. Whenever I go south of Forked River the dodger comes down.
I have yet to find a bug spray that keeps them away. I do find that a cigar helps.

 

[capta]

When I did frequent deliveries up and down the ditch, I'd often encounter big biting flies (your green heads?) here and there. As I traveled they'd appear and disappear by locale, not the color of the bimini or anything else. If you are in their living area I believe you are stuck with them.

 

[jssailem]

need to see the bikini.

What... Yellow Polkadot Bikini - scares flies?
Maybe playing the music might help....

 

[TomY]

This thread reminds me of stopping into Atlantic City NJ in the early 90's. I was alone moving our boat up the coast and went into a reedy backwater to anchor for the night.

I was attacked by a vicious swarm of green heads. So thick on deck they were that I had to dash into the cabin with too little ventilation - to escape. I don't think I came out until dawn the next day. I've never seen anything like it, since.

What's with those things?

 

[Scott T-Bird]

This thread reminds me of stopping into Atlantic City NJ in the early 90's. I was alone moving our boat up the coast and went into a reedy backwater to anchor for the night.

I was attacked by a vicious swarm of green heads. So thick on deck they were that I had to dash into the cabin with too little ventilation - to escape. I don't think I came out until dawn the next day. I've never seen anything like it, since.

What's with those things?

So you were out stuck in the mud, somewhere in the swamps of Jersey? Sounds like a song, Rosalita

 

[John T1594]

I have sailed Barnegat Bay and the ICW down to Atlantic City in boats with either a green or Navy blue dodger/bimini. The green flies love both colors.

 

[Davidasailor26]

When I was a kid I would go out with my grandfather on his powerboat near Manahawkin. There were plenty of greenheads in spite of the light colored canvas on his boat. On the other hand, dark canvas would probably have hidden the blood stains better after we were eaten.

 

[Scott T-Bird]

After my Labor Day weekend trip on the ICW from Atlantic City back to Barnegat I told my dock neighbor how beautiful the trip was on the ICW and he responded … "Oh, so the greenheads weren't out."

 

[Banooma]

I think usually the presence of greenheads is mostly based on time of season and existence of persistent west winds. Did you plan around the wind forecast? If your inside trip was beautiful, it would seem you avoided a grounding... That may be the more impressive feat!

 

[Daveinet]

Didn't I read another thread here about hanging bagies full of water scares them away? The constant moving light shining through the water in the baggie makes a random moving shadow on any surface. Flies are inherantly skidish, which is why they are difficult to kill with your hand. They see the shadow coming and are afraid to land.

 

[rschuss]

Having sailed an O'Day Mariner, 19 feet, through the Barnegat area many times without canvas, the flies are a pestilence. I have stood on the transom deck with tiller in hand and the boat was covered with flies. They seemed to like the boat as much as me. Fly swatter in hand was useless. Next worst pestilence is on the Chesapeake is at Jane Island.

 

[wing15601]

Kept a boat in Waretown, NJ for several years and dealt with the flies. They are vicious little blood sucking beasts.

 

[jssailem]

They are vicious little blood sucking beasts.

While I agree with you that they are vicious, they really are not blood suckers. They are really Lappers.

Their mouth parts include two sharp tools that look much like a pair of scissors. They jam those mandibles straight into your flesh. Then flex outwards severing every capillary and vein with which they come into contact. They use a salivary pump to douse the wound with an anticoagulant chemical. Then they use a syringe-like device that in their mouth to start lapping up your pooling blood. All this happens in a split second. Then they are flying away full of your blood.

Not only do they punch a large hole in you, they gush in an antiseptic-saliva that stimulates blood flow. It burns and causes your nerves to respond with pain.

Evil - vile little creatures.

 

[Scott T-Bird]

The greenheads don't bother me as much as the smaller, faster black flies that we also have. (they aren't the Black Flies that the Great Lakes folks suffer with - they are just more like a house fly). The greenheads are slow and stupid. They land on your body at easy to slap places, and after they bite, they stay there until they are killed. They don't even stop sucking your blood when you move. Besides that, they are large enough so that you feel them land and they often crawl around before biting, just giving you more opportunity to kill them. The only thing about them that is maddening is the sheer numbers of them. They arrive in thick swarms and it is difficult to deal with the sheer numbers.

OTOH, the small black flies aren't nearly as numerous, but they are far more wily and very difficult to kill. They never land where they can be slapped. Your slightest movement causes them to fly, even after a bite, and they are very fast. While the greenhead is typically a sitting duck when you make ready to slap, these small flies are gone as soon as you have your first impulse. You rarely feel when they land, so you don't have any advance warning and no chance of killing them before they bite. They usually attack the back of the ankles, They are nearly impossible to stalk because they won't land when they know they are being hunted. These are the ones that bother me the most.