Insect repellents

FAOL Community Fly Anglers Online
1

I was going through Consumer Reports Online this morning and stumbled across this July 2010 report on insect repellents. The first thing that I watched was this video on the shortcomings of the OFF Clip ON product: http://video.consumerreports.org/services/player/bcpid1886192484?bctid=106592694001 I did comment about this on another thread but wanted to make a stand alone thread under Insect Repellent so that when some poor soul did a search under “insect repellent” like I did before I posted this they would find this discussion.

Then I found this video about the better regular insect repellents. Sorry, edited to say that this link doesn’t work for non members of CR.

While you have to be a member of CR to see the actual report and ratings I don’t mind sharing the fact that Deep Woods Off Sportsman II was rated a 98 for a score (which was the highest score on the ratings) but came in at a retail cost of $1.25 per ounce which was the lowest cost per ounce of the 4 repellants that all rated a 98. The other three that rated a 98 but had higher costs per ounce included: Cutter Backwoods Unscented, OFF Family Care Smooth and Dry, and 3M Ultrathon Insect Repellent 8.

Remember that these are not exhaustive tests. In other words they do not test every product out there, but of the one that they did test this is how they performed. If you haven’t come to a final conclusion on which product to use during misquito season, pick one of the 4 top rated products.

For fly fisherman we have to be aware that all four of these top rated products contain between 15 and 30 % deet which will damaged fly lines so be careful when applying this stuff and wash the palms of your hands when you are done applying it or apply it with the back of your hands.

While I live in Wisconsin and you don’t need to have a hunting license to shoot them with a shotgun, they are large enough to do so and offer a great challenge. I prefer to use insect repellent instead of ammo to keep them off of me. It is more cost effective with ammo prices these days. :wink:

Rick

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Personally I love Ultrathon - they were a Sponsor here for a couple of years while George Deirberger was at the helm of Scientific Anglers for 3M and we tried it a lot including the little tiny awful black flies in the Bahamas. It stopped them too AND the black flies in Quebec. It works!

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Anyone ever try the non-Deet methods of insect repellent? I just got an InsectShield handkerchief/bandana that I’ve worn once, and while I wasn’t bothered by bugs…I didn’t really see anyone else nearby being bothered either, so maybe there just weren’t that many bugs to be repelled in the first place.

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I can second LF recommendation on Ultrathon. If you can find it on sale or in the clearance section of Walmart or another store it’s a very good deal. Even at the full retail price it’s one of the few I’ve tried that works over a long period of time on practically every species of pest I’ve encountered. One of the best features is it just doesn’t leave me feeling like I’m coated in goo the way some of the other product, particularly the sprays do.

You do have to rinse your hand to keep it off the fly line but since I’m standing in water most of the time that’s not a problem. I like it and will continue to use it. Just wish they were still a supporter of the board.

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My personal preference is 100% deet. I use the spay bottle, apply 1 spritz to the back of each hand near the wrist and the back of my neck. Coupled with the WJ Mosquito Annoyer it usually works pretty well.