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3. Detroit 'fishflies' on WJR

http://www.wjr.com/Sectional.asp?id=34620

Did an interview over the weekend that some of you might find amusing.

Luke,

Listened to your 15 mins of fame, mister...You would think, in a place like Detroit, that a mayfly that pre-dates the damn town itself, that the locals would know more about the darn thing...They see em every year.

When I was working my way through Wayne State U I drove truck for the Detroit Free Press. I used to have an early morning stop near Jefferson Ave out by Mt Clemens near Lake St Clair...There was a small bank out in the middle of no-where and the Hex would be everywhere and all over the sidewalk...I could hardly lay the bundles of newspapers down without smashing them...Vehicles would slide through stop lights under street lamps, the road were covered with them...Incredible!

Things have been running a tad late with our odd spring but Father's Day is usually the beginning of the hoop-la! Especially further north of here in Detroit.

Spence

"That's Pure Michigan"...

;oD

Jonathon

I thought the interview was going to be about mayflies, and not so much mosquitoes, so I was caught a little off guard. I looked, and there's closer to 60 spp of mosquitoes in MI, but around Detroit itself, you could argue my answer. Had hoped to talk about the Fishfly Festival in New Baltimore, where we visited a few years ago, and had a terrifying traffic experience like you described, Spence.

PS, I'm wondering now if the whole "male mosquito" thing was really about the mufflehead midges?

Luke,

Thanks for sharing.

In Detroit, Dr. Luke, I believe they're known as "mufflerhead" midges. :)

Hey! We resemble that remark...

Apparently, the interviewer thought it was supposed to be about bugs that bug people. I mean, that's what bugs do, isn't it? :)

Good interview, Luke. I noticed you said a lot of the area repellents for mosquitoes are gimmicks. Could you elaborate on that? I've never tried one, but I was thinking about getting some for when my wife comes back to Fairbanks in a couple weeks, because she hates mosquitoes.

It seems the main ones on the market are the Off Clip-Ons you mentioned in your interview (http://www.off.com/ClipOn.aspx) and the ThermaCell products (http://www.thermacell.com/mosquito-repellent) that my local sporting goods store carries. The ThermaCell has really good reviews on Amazon. Is there any reason to think it's a gimmick, or is it worth a try?

@Troutnut-I haven't actually found the clipons yet. I wished that I would have said something about DEET, but I was trying to give soundbites. I think the Off one has it, but I'm not sure. I have not heard of the ThermaCell, so I won't comment. In my experience, a lot of products are as good as snake oil, especially the sonicators, and things like that. If anyone wants to argue, I'm all ears. Mosquitoes key in on CO2 and body odors, more than anything else, as far as I know. That is something else I should have said something about: CO2. But I suppose that is just another dirty word in the Motor City. :}

@PaulRoberts-Yes, I think he thought it was about nuisance insects. Not usually where I place mayflies...except maybe an urban Hex hatch. So, I should have known better.

Konchu et al.
My wife got me one of those off clip on things.
My testing ground was a local nameless meadow stream with a penchant for carnivorous bugs. The first night ( no repellent)resulted in 17 welts on exposed skin, night two ( with the off clip on) 0 welts.
I repeated the exercise while on my recent Potter Co. PA outting (this time unintentionally as the control outtting was a result of a report that "there are drakes on and the damn fish are rising" that night resulted in about 15 bites. The next night with repellent in place 0 bites (unfortunatly it was 0 takes from the trout both nights).
The one thing it did not seem to stop was the biting "no see-ums" but it did seem to reduce the number of mosquito punctures. Of course this study was far from a scientific double blind deal but the only significant variable which changed on both tests was the presence of the Off clip on.
And no the active ingredients DO NOT contain DEET in the Off clip product.
JW

what's the ingredient, or is it proprietary?

Quoting from this website about the active ingredient in ThermaCells:



It has rave reviews on several store websites, including Amazon.

A guy on another forum I belong to was just talking about this. He gives the therma-cell an awesome review as well. Said he was fishing somewhere up in the Adriondacks and bugs were all over, as usual! Anyway, he said the therma-cell unit formed a bubble of clear air, insect free around him and that it worked very well. I guess the only thing you have to watch is dropping it in the water when wading and/or going in too deep and submerging it. I don't know if they're water-proof, I assume not!!

Apparently some people are "tastier" than others, which could easily skew opinions.

I'll have to give one a try - I'm one of those "tasty" people and I typically have a cloud following me around on the trout streams at this time of year...

Jonathon

@konchu
Off lists the active ingredient as "metofluthrin"

Going by the safety labeling it is some pretty nasty stuff
They recomend washing with soap and then rinsing for 20 minutes if you just get ot on your skin.
And it can be toxic to pets and children.


@jmd
Just eat a head or two of garlic the day before an outting. I guarentee that you will not be bothered by a single mosquito or anything with a sense of smell.

Thanks, all, for the info. Wish you could have been holding up cue cards in my living room last weekend! On second thought, I don't know about hosting this rowdy bunch...

I bought a ThermaCell today, and will report back here on how it works.

I love garlic! But, does it have to be raw? No problem, next time I make pesto I'll just add some extra...

Jonathon