# Black Flies



## gogoman

Gina, great tip! thanks.


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## Gina Fox

let me know if it works!!!


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## needfishing

12 years ago I built a new house right near the creek. Now I have to tell you, you don't know what Black flies are untill you live with them averyday all day. I tried everything in the book, Vitiamin B1 taken twice a day helps but I forget to take it sometimes and unless you take it all the time it don't work. Off works good if you can stand to have that stuff on you all the time, and it ruins clothes and some plastics. The best thing I found is called BITE FREE and it Contains no Deet, it is a Citronella lotion. It smells good, last long, and is easy on the skin. Just remember it is a minimum risk pesticide so wash hands before eating.


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## Gina Fox

needfishing said:


> 12 years ago I built a new house right near the creek. Now I have to tell you, you don't know what Black flies are untill you live with them averyday all day.
> 
> 
> OK you be the tester put those Bounce in your shirt collar or back pocket and let us know how they work!


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## needfishing

Ginna Fox,
I have tried the Bounce thing years ago and it did keep them off in the area of the sheet but you would have to cover all exposed skin to keep them off and they still land in your eyes. Besides The Bounce will make you sick after while, it did me. The very best thing I found back in the 80's was a product that Avon use to sell and I don't know the name of it but it was a bath oil that was pink in color. Now don't get confused and think it was "Skin So Soft" that's the one Avon thought it was and it wasn't. The product was a bath oil just like Skin So Soft but it was pink in color and had the faint smell of Off repelant but was much milder and would smell good as well as keeping your skin soft. Over the years since 1980 when I first bought this land and started fishing and hunting here I have tried everything I heard about and that was the best. I never got bothered while wearing it and I wish they would market it again but I don't remember the name of it. The closest I have come since is the stuff in my above post and with that you have to keep applying it if you are out all day. Now I tried a Patch that seems to work later in the summer after the heat dries the air a little more ( moist air makes them worse, they swarm more) but you have to apply a new one every night the day before you are going out and they cost about $2 a patch. They are called "Omezone Defend" and they may be cheaper now. They are not a 100% but they help a lot. If anybody's grandmother or mother or aunt were Avon ladies in the 70's or 80's and they can remember what that Pink bath oil was called, someone might get Avon to market it again. Avon thought it was Skin So Soft that worked and they even tryed marketing that as an insect repellent but beleive me it don't work.


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## UPJerry

Has anyone tried a local bug repellent called "Don't Bug Me"? It is made in Skandia and marketed by "Yours Truly Tia" (a person named Theresa Israel Asher). I have a bottle that was given to me but I haven't tried it and don't really intend to unless someone else says they've had success with it. Ingredients include the above mentioned Avon Skin So Soft as well as eucalyptus and tea tree oils.


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## Ansel

UPJerry said:


> Has anyone tried a local bug repellent called "Don't Bug Me"? It is made in Skandia and marketed by "Yours Truly Tia" (a person named Theresa Israel Asher). I have a bottle that was given to me but I haven't tried it and don't really intend to unless someone else says they've had success with it. Ingredients include the above mentioned Avon Skin So Soft as well as eucalyptus and tea tree oils.


I've never heard of it...Give it a try...what do you have to lose other than some blood...!


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## UPJerry

Ansel said:


> what do you have to lose other than some blood...!


Exactly! :lol:


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## BeWild

Ansel said:


> I've never heard of it...Give it a try...what do you have to lose other than some blood...!


It's just blood right? Surprising how much the little b****** can take out of you in a short time. For work I think they buy the 40% DEET stuff at either Menards or Econo, I can't remember though. Works like a champ. Especially when the sand flies that reside in the bunkers at the course come out to play when the bunkers need a raking.


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## Bow Hunter Brandon

Lots and Lots of Deet....


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## Wizard3686

Yes lots of deet is the only way to handle them. Watch ticks to lots and lost of ticks this year i really hate to say how many i have had this year so far.


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## scotchass

If you really want to be hardcore rub yourself down with pine pitch, not sure if it keeps the bugs away or if they just can't bite through it. I was fishing out by the dead in marquette one day and it was real muggy, actually the worst t-storm I ever witnessed in the UP pushed through as I was on the river and I had to high tail it out of there. I got bit by every bug in the wood, black flies, mosquitos, dearflies, no see ums and even ended up with 2 leaches on my foot because I was wet wading.....I finally made it home and the power was out and it was still pretty dark out. As the storm cleared some sunlight came through the window and I looked down to find the leeches on my foot....I freaked out and poured a whole container of salt on my foot.....What was awesome about the whole storm thing was that once I got back onto the pavement with my car a tree was down across the road...that didn't last long as half the people who were backed up by the tree had a chainsaw in there truck or car, of course as we were clearing the road we got pelted by some nice sized hail.......I rarely got really bother bad by bugs, except on the beeches, but that day was gnarly to say the least.


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## gdwsr44

Hey Jerry,

I agree that the UP has the biggest horseflies around.Looked outside yesterday and realized my tractor was gone, found out later one of them HF's decided to move it!!!

gdwsr44


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