Does a House Fly Repellent for Clothing Exist?

[Bamboozle]

Help!



I have a trip planned in a few weeks which takes me to north-central PA. The last two years we encountered a gazillion small tachinid flies which were released by some government agency genius to control the gypsy moth population. I don't know if they are doing their intended job but they can drive PEOPLE nuts!! They are true flies, members of the order Diptera and look exactly like small house flies with red eyes.

When fishing they land on your arms, hands, face EVERYWHERE, 20-30-40 at a time. I feel like a cow shooing and shaking them off of me all day, it is quite annoying even though they don't bite. I do treat my fishing shirt & hat with Sawyer Permethrin repellent that works wonders with ticks & other blood suckers, but it doesn't do a thing to repel the tachinid flies. Neither does a dryer sheet. I haven't tried any DEET preparations yet, maybe because I always wonder about it damaging stuff.

Does anybody know of any safe repellents that might work against these critters. I hear cloves are supposed to repel house flies. Maybe I should stick one in each ear?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

[Heritage Angler]

Bamb - Forget Deet. Didn't faze those things. Tom up at Slate Run Tackle said that there were hardly any people biking on the rail trail because the flies were so bad.

Those things were horrendous! I'm bringing a head net, and long sleeve tropical fishing shirts (again). It wasn't uncommon to have a half dozen flies on the back of each hand. Yuck!

Did you notice that they weren't out all day long? Mid day was the worst. There was no relief, even when standing in the middle of Big Pine - nowhere near land.

Next thing, they'll be planting Venus fly traps, and stocking frogs.

[Bamboozle]

Ed:

I was afraid you'd chime in with encouragement like that!

I was on the upper-upper reaches of Kettle one day with sleeves DOWN and there were at least 50 on my arms & hands! Then one afternoon at Cross Fork, the back of my shirt was covered until a downpour provided relief; once the rain stopped, the flies were back!

Oh yea, cigars didn't do squat either as I'm sure you discovered with the pipe! I was considering bringing a cow with me this year, figuring they would be more attracted to her than me. Even though that would save me the hassle of bringing cream for the coffee, I can't fit her in the car with all of my fishing stuff. Even the ever present toads don't seem to make a dent in the population of those @!$%# flies. Maybe a couple of pet swallows is the answer!!

What is interesting is, this fly seems to me to be a recent plague yet the story told by DCNR is they stopped the program years ago. Either someone is lying or the flies have multiplied like crazy in the last 3-4 years. Did you noticed the giant purple fly traps hanging from the trees?

More good news - the geniuses in charge are now considering releasing wasps to control the stink bug population!

Will they ever learn???

[Heritage Angler]

Hmmm. I was thinking of using a technique from out of the Wild West.

I was gonna build a little hangman's gallows for on top of my hat, and string up one of those flies on 8X tippet - you know, make an EXAMPLE out of him!

Not to worry. All those Marcellus Shale fracking fluid spills will kill 'em off in a few years.

[Bamboozle]

One of these on your hat may set an even bigger example...

...except with the number of flies I encountered, I would expect them to eventually have enough wing power to fly off with my hat!

[Heritage Angler]

Tennis, anyone?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002URN2EC/...C&linkCode=asn

"Shocks bugs into oblivion." I like the sound of that.

Or this one:

http://www.beachaudio.com/Honeywell/...source=thefind

"The Octenol lure helps attract mosquitoes and other blood-seeking insects by emitting a scent similar to a large mammal."

"Hey Dave - come 'ere. I got this new bug spray you gotta try."

[Old #art]

Did you noticed the giant purple fly traps hanging from the trees?

Those are for the Ash borers. We have those hanging down here, also.

George

[LadyFisher]

Did you try Ultrathon? We used it in the Bahamas for the tiny little biting flies and doctor flies.....the flies stayed off and did not come back!

[Heritage Angler]

Hi Deanna!
Yes, Ultrathon is what I started with. No effect whatsoever. I even went so far as to use 100% deet, to the point that the smell was making me woozy. Didn't work.

As Eric stated, they don't bite - it's just the psycholigical reaction to having flies crawling on your skin. Hence my solution - no exposed skin. I have a "bug suit" that I use for early archery season. It's a soft type of mesh that allows air to circulate, but bugs can't touch you. It'll make lighting my pipe an adventure!

H.A.

Here's a shot of Croatalus - notice his "friends".