>On a hike to a new river I planned on fishing (canada)
>Turns out to be a gorgeous trout haven biggies jumping errywhere
>As I walk to a spot I notice a visible dark cloud blackflies right behind me in hot pursuit
>Fuck, forgot about these niggers
>Experienced the best fly fishing of my life for barely 45 minutes
>Literally almost entirely covered in these flies and they were starting to bite, hundreds more buzzing all around
>Went frantic and ran away
How /out/ deal with these vicious, omnipresent motherfuckers?
>>764913
bug spray...?
>>764913
D E E T
E
E
T
I swear those things home in on boats and fishermen in particular because they know you can't escape in short order.
Bug spray, long sleeves and a mesh hood, try some of those clip on insect repellent things. No idea if permethrin works but it's good practice to have an outer layer with that shit on it for the sake of ticks anyway, don't use it if you have cats.
Really though, there's no 100% avoiding it, but on the upside biting flies in NA don't tend to carry or transmit diseases to humans unlike mosquitoes and gnats. If it's just black and sand flies be grateful that the horse and stable flies have other targets in mind.
Just get a bug jacket. They'really cheap and work great.
>>764913
You need to be careful now with the winters being milder. There's millions more flies per acre than normal. They've literally been killing off large game animals like moose.
>>764947
>>764942
You guys have no clue at all. You must have a bug net. Spray won't work due to the massive numbers of flies. When OP says he saw a "visible dark cloud" he actually means it.
Which are worst this year? Mosquitoes or blackflies?
>>765729
Everything is bad this year. Down here in TX it never even got cold enough to kill the mosquitoes off this year. I got a lot of mosquito bites from Dec-Feb and right now the bottoms are so thick with the fuckers that it's completely intolerable to be /out/ without first dousing yourself in DEET. And ticks... I've gotten ticks on me every month this year so far starting in early January. Luckily I haven't stumbled onto a bad patch of chiggers yet but I know that they're out there just.. waiting for me.
>>765721
You get it. The flies up here don't give a fuck unless your soaked in DEET and even then when theres this many of them they'll still be all over you.
>>765729
We had a super mild winter in nova scotia so we must be paying for it now, the black flies are fucking terrible
>>764947
Fair enough I'll keep that in mind. I usually try to avoid DEET since I've heard it eats through fishing line, is this true?
>>764913
Everyone I know owns
>pic related
>>765981
Yeah, I don't think I'll ever pour that shit all over me for any reason. I'd just wear a bug net like in >>765317
>bad patch of chiggers
Oh god, fuck those things. You never know they've been on you until AFTER they've bitten you and left. Then the welts and itching start.
>>766173
But that is a bee suit. I have one. They are hot as balls inside. They however keep you bite/sting free. Though on the tightly pressed sections of the gloves the bees can still get through on the knuckles. You have to wear two layers of gloves to prevent that. It'd work well for biting insects, not sure about horseflies on the hands though. But, you'd expire if it was hot outside.
>>766244
They are mites so small you don't notice or feel them crawling on your skin. They bite you, inject digestive fluid into the wound, suck out the digested flesh and liquids then leave. The resulting wound and still remaining digestive fluids cause a bad reaction that swells up. It itches like mad, more so than poison ivy. Like a really HARD itch you can't relieve by scratching.
The only thing that really helps, like with poison ivy, that isn't a salve is hot water. Run hot water over the welt for about a minute. It should be as hot as you can stand without harming your skin. It will itch violently while hot but as soon as it cools off you'll have relief for a long time (same relief method for poison ivy/oak and many insect bites). Also, scrubbing the wound and popping the blister of the chigger bite is recommended to help remove any left over digestive fluids so it doesn't get worse. Do that part asap.
>>766244
Don't google image search "chigger bites".
>>765721
This
The barrier method is the best method
Op, advice take a basic bracket mushroom dry it out and make a smoldering amber out of it. Works amazing trust me.
>>766874
Thanks Gordon.
>>766244
Chegro, please.
>>764913
tell more about the trout OP
I highly recommend the deer fly patch. Works for black flies also:
>TangleFoot bug glue/goop
>BLUE duct tape
>Hat
>Tape rear 1/2 of the hat with tape
>Paint the tape with TangleFoot goop
>???
>DON'T REACH UP AND TOUCH YOUR HAT!!!
>>767547
You don't have a flame thrower on that list. Easiest way to wipe out a swarm.
>>767445
I basically fished the inflow of a very small pond/deadwater along the river. The whole river is catch and release + artificial bait only so I knew it had to be good. First thing I noticed is how they weren't "popping" out of the water when they fed like the ones near my house do, didn't realize til after that this is because they are much larger in size.
I flicked out my adams and it got taken immediately by this guy in the pic, only reason I kept him is because he was bleeding out after I removed the hook. Got 2 more probably around 16'' before I got chased out.
