mosquitos

[dlf58]

Spent last week fly fishing a well known north central lake in Colorado. Have always gone for a week in late Sept or early Oct. The weather was pretty good, windy alot, but was used to that. Caught some fish. Rainbow and Cutts, some pretty nice, some not so big. BIG thing were the mosquitos. Every afternoon 3:30 or so, till dark. Huge swarms around camper and pickup, and us...... Made an otherwise decent trip, almost unbearable. They liked to bite. Question. Is this normal in early June, and if so how do you deal with them? Uncle and I have pretty much given up on going back except in the fall. It wouldn"t have been a huge deal, but we drive 500 miles to fish there. Thanks David

 

[karstopo]

I carry 100 DEET with me as part of my gear. A little on your skin goes a long way to repel mosquitoes. The salt marsh here at times gets thick with very aggressive mosquitoes and the DEET spray handles them well. Get at least 25% DEET if you can’t find stronger. I spray it on my hands and then dab it on other parts of me and my clothing. Permethrin sprays like what’s in yard guard and cutter are pretty effective in creating a mosquito free perimeter. Yard guard comes in a can and cutter comes in a bottle that attaches to a hose so that might not work if you don’t have a hose. You could bring along a pump up sprayer and apply it that way. I’m not sure the rules are on that in every place so you may need to check on it first.

 

[scotty macfly]

Yes, it's normal, especially the more humid it is. The wind will keep them down, and that's about the only good thing I can say about the wind.
But here is one thing you will read over and over and over again when it comes to Colorado fishing on this forum, especially in the summer in the high country.....bring bug spray!!!!! It's rule #1. If you do that, your 500 mile trip will be worth every mile and penny.

 

[stenacron]

Short summers in the Rockies so insect swarms are intense and condensed. Depending on conditions (snowpack, elevation, air temps, etc.) you can avoid them with proper timing.

I hike/fish the high Uintas here in Utah (~10,000 feet) and if I can get up there before... say NOW, there are no bugs. Mid June thru most of July it's like a horror movie. I swear they try to drill through the windshield as I am pulling into the trailhead. Aug into fall is quite manageable.

Wide-brimmed hat + head net, long-sleeved (loose fitting) shirt, and my trusty "Off fan" and I don't even notice them.

Skeeters are bad, but the Noseeum's are 100X worse IMO. The above works on them too.

 

[dharkin]

In a word, Thermacell.

Thermacell Repellents | Mosquito Repellent and Tick Control

Works great as long as the winds aren't up. Not sure if they would control a swarm but I use one on 3D archery courses and never get a single bite.

 

[406Life]

I also use thermacell. Absolutely worth it. I don't even apply bug spray.

 

[westcoast]

Mosquitos are easy, Black flies on the other hand will leave you bleeding. When I lived in Quebec and we were fishing from a boat, you would see a swarm of black flies coming for you, we would have to gun the boat to a different location. If we were lucky, we had 1/2 an hour before the swarm caught up to us again.

 

[smoke33]

I have not had the same success with Thermacell that others claim. Bug spray with Deet for me.


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[mikechell]

Walmart ... $8.00. But it lasts for a long time.
Just be careful and don't touch ANYTHING plastic until it's fully dried. It'll ruin glasses, rods, lines, etc.

 

[dlf58]

Thanks for all the replys. Have been going in the fall for many years. No problems. Guess if we venture back next spring/ early summer will have to be more prepared. Honestly didn't have a clue how bad they can be.

 

[rangerrich99]

I ran into a similar issue during my first trip up to the Green River below Fontenelle Dam; the skeeters and horseflies were worthy of Biblical status. Of course I used tons of bug spray, but after a few days I really found out that how much I disliked almost everything about the stuff; the noxious smell, the sting of it in my eyes, and so on.

The big problem was that I was doing a lot of wet-wading, and the repellent would soon wash off after repeated river crossings. So by noon, I was forced to re-apply the spray or get eaten alive by 2 o'clock. I went through several bottles of repellent that week. By week's end I had been bitten several hundred times; I looked like I'd gotten the pox.

Note: and you have to get fairly dry first before spraying bug spray on for it to work. So I'd have to put up with the bugs until I air-dried enough to re-apply the spray. Which meant I got bit a lot while waiting to dry.

First I tried Naturapel, which is an insect repellent based on Picaridin instead of DEET. To my surprise, it worked pretty well and doesn't make you choke if you breathe some of it while putting it on.

The following year I found some Insect Defense clothing at Cabela's. I decided to try a set of pants and a shirt out when I returned to the Green. Well, the stuff really works, even when wet. I also got a bottle of Sawyer insect repellent for clothing and applied the stuff to my socks, buf, and hat. Again, the stuff really works. After my last trip up to the Green I had only five bites on me at the end of 8 days of fishing and camping outdoors. And I got all five of those bites while I wasn't wearing the bug defense clothes.

I've been using the clothes and the Sawyer clothing spray for a couple years now, and wouldn't go back to just DEET bug spray ever again. Not only is it cheaper in the long run, but I really like the idea of not applying a bunch of chemicals to my skin for days at a time. And it's pretty nice going to bed not smelling like bug spray.

So nowadays I put a little Nutrapel on my ears and neck, and everything else is covered by bug defense clothing. That's it.

Here's a link to InsectShield clothing, in case anyone's interested. It's the company that invented the process of bonding insect repellent to apparel. Also their clothing is significantly less expensive than most of the brand names like Cabela's, Bass Pro, REI and so forth.

Insect & Mosquito Repellent Clothing - Permethrin Treated Clothes | Insect Shield

Also a link for Sawyer Insect Repellent Clothing Spray (you can get this stuff at Wally-world; I just provided the link for informational purposes): Permethrin Insect Repellent Treatment for Clothing Gear and Tents | Sawyer Products

Background company info on InsectShield: Company Background | Insect Shield

 

[c web]

Sorry I did not read any of the responses so it has probably already been said but I will say it again...THERMACELL!!!!

 

[flav]

One of the things I've really enjoyed about moving to the west from the great lakes region is the general lack of mosquitoes. June in the high country is the one exception, and they can be awful. There are lakes I just plain avoid during June and sometimes the first part of July. After that, though, the number of mosquitoes drops significantly, and I don't even bother packing repellent.

 

[gpwhitejr]

Mosquitos are easy, Black flies on the other hand will leave you bleeding. When I lived in Quebec and we were fishing from a boat, you would see a swarm of black flies coming for you, we would have to gun the boat to a different location. If we were lucky, we had 1/2 an hour before the swarm caught up to us again.

Sure that was Quebec and not this place?:

YouTube

 

[olsaltydog]

Pretty much I keep this part of my arsenal pretty straight forward, learned it in the military and continue using it to this day. Permethrin spray should be your first item. You can buy the clothing but just like using the spray the clothing supposedly infused with permethrin will wear off. At that point you will have to buy the spray anyways to reapply to your clothing so for me instead of buying pricier clothing marked up only because it was treated with permethrin I just use my regular old clothing I want to wear and diligently take the clothes outside and apply the permethrin myself. It will last a few weeks and through a couple of washes before needing to be reapplied. You can go with Sawyer that does provide a liquid spray version or both Sawyer and Repel both make an aerosol version. I have found the aerosol version on sale in stores more often than Sawyer so it made sense to purchase that as I got more for my money. Apply to clothing as directed, and I treat all my clothing I will be taking, not just the clothing I will be wearing for the day as I don't want to be sitting by a campfire being bitten in my night clothing.

Second step would be to use some form of bug spray, it helps, even though you should be protected by the permethrin, the permethrin is really only effective when the insect lands on you, so the bug spray added to your process will help prevent them from landing all over you and to keep that buzz out of your ears or fly out of your eye.

Take a light jacket or convertible pants, that way you can relax when you want, or cover up if the bugs get pretty bad on exposed skin.

Last, take a wide brimmed hat and a head net that can go over it and cover your head. The first two steps should do the trick for 90% of the insects out there but even I have had issues with a few here and there including some ticks I have found at a later point dead but still found time to get a bite in, died trying to eat me.

 

[JoJer]

I use and get good results with deep woods Off. Regular applications as needed, wear waders, treat outer garments, including a neckerchief I wear around my neck. Lots of bank water I fish here see lots of deer/beds, head high weeds and the off keeps the ticks at bay. As average temperatures increase, we may all see more black flies and I know most skeeter repellant doesn't work for them. New markets for head nets.
Earlier, someone mentioned their military training in dealing with pests. I had a bottle of "Nam" era GI bug stuff that leaked in my briefcase: It melted my radio. Good stuff.

 

[westcoast]

Sure that was Quebec and not this place?:
YouTube

Oh ya, Quebec is worse.

 

[ia_trouter]

Sorry I did not read any of the responses so it has probably already been said but I will say it again...THERMACELL!!!!

Ard has a handful of those and they worked very well in Alaska the three trips I was up there. The wind is almost non-existent during the summer though. Wind will affect any measure that is aerialized though.

 

[Rip Tide]

We have a huge mosquito problem where we camp to fish in northern Maine
Last year I made a bunch of smudge lamps from Mason jars with Tiki Torch wicks and burned Tiki Torch " Bitefighter" fuel.
They worked amazingly well.
I looked into the Thermacell. The expense wasn't worth it.

 

[ia_trouter]

Another thing I learned after during 1000+ nights in the field during my military career. Do not use scented hygiene items ever! Nobody likes to smell like a goat, but by day three the bugs were far less of a problem until you showered again. I am certain that is helpful. It's all good if your buddies stink a little too. Nobody notices