Fly infestation, Eastern Chesapeak

[sgtPluck]

Can anyone tell me exactly what this fly is, and if there's anything I can do to reduce their attraction to my boat.

It's my first season in the Chesapeake and am finding that there are literally thousands of these fliies on my bimini at night, I thought it would pass but despite some fluctuations in their numbers they don't seem to be going away, it's been weeks. I seem to be getting far higher numbers of them than any other boat in the mooring field/marina.

What's worse, they leave tiny green poo marks everywhere, and cleaning up after them is getting old.

Any remedies to deter these guys?



On the upside, an accompanying colony of spiders seem to have set up shop on the boat too, but life must be so boring for them with their endless supply of food.

[Aswayze]

I ran into a horde of those guys a few weeks back at Reedville. My buddy snapped this pic of me vacuuming the last vestiges of them out of the cockpit with my trusty fly vacuum that has served me so well in my great lakes cruising. Don't know what they were but they were not particularly sturdy.

Up north we tend to treat our canvas with anti fly spray like what you use on horses. You can generally get it from Farm supply stores. I seem to recall Bronco was the brand we tended to use. It has Permethrine in it and it will kill those little jerks in droves which is handy since they all tend to collect up in a nice handy pile that's easy to vacuum up the lot of them along with their predators the spiders. Both of my screens had been sprayed last season and even 8 months later they did a number on those flies.

[bdbcat]

Are they "fuzzy bills"?


https://outerbanksvoice.com/2015/07/...-and-visitors/


Big annoyance some years in northern Pamlico Sound/Albemarle River.
Their life-cycle is interesting...


Sunlight and time will naturally fade the green droppings. Keep your mouth closed on-deck.



Dave

[Hudson Force]

These are aquatic midges that are commonly called "blind mosquitoes". It's easy to find all about them when searching with these names.

[Empty Pockets]

Originally Posted by bdbcat

Are they "fuzzy bills"?


https://outerbanksvoice.com/2015/07/...-and-visitors/


Big annoyance some years in northern Pamlico Sound/Albemarle River.
Their life-cycle is interesting...


Sunlight and time will naturally fade the green droppings. Keep your mouth closed on-deck.



Dave

Yup, a Fuzzy Bills/Midge flies. We got them a few years back coming across Albemarle Sound. The dock guy at Coinjock laughed and told us all about them! It was like a Stephen King novel out there! We too were using a little shop vac on them, but there were so many it clogged. Good luck!

[ranger58sb]

Put the vac on "blow".

-Chris

[Suijin]

A few years ago I was anchored below Coinjock, close to the channel and away from shore to avoid them but made the mistake of leaving a cockpit light on. Was like a biblical plague in the morning. And they live for quite awhile. I tried everything to get them off the boat for a few days and only succeeded by anchoring near a very bright light. They're awful.

[bdbcat]

They can get pretty thick.....


https://bigdumboat.com/LTS/fuzzybill.html



Dave

[Zil]

Be glad they were not the biting type fly. Green head, black flies, gnats, or some of the others.

[sailing_gal]

Yep, picked these up just north of Abermarle Sound in 2013. I had dropped the anchor just before sunset and then discovered these things coming at the boat and I went inside and sealed the hatches. Took this picture in the evening, and then the next one the next morning. They were all dead and it just took some time to finally sweep them all off the boat. Luckily my canvas was green, so no staining issue and I managed to keep them outside of the cabin.

[scottgledhill]

May flies. They and their green deposits will disappear shortly if not already. We were hit with them last year. We scrubbed and scrubbed to get rid of the green deposits only to learn that they disappear on their own. It is now June 2nd, they should be gone shortly.

[Hudson Force]

The May Flies have far larger wings and some long tail filaments, but the have the same swarming behavior. If you want a quick cleaning of the green deposits try "Simple Green".

[Bean Counter]

They are attracted to lights on the boat (particularly bright LED) or even reflected light off white fiberglass. They found us in the Alligator river a few years back and it was like a horror movie, they squirmed their way through the tiniest cracks and came swarming up through the sliding door drainage vents, which i covered with Duct tape - millions of them. I used a deck wash hose to blast them off in the morning. They don't bite, but they go for mucus around eyes nose and ears, must drive deer crazy.

[Windcall]

Anchored Broad Creek Extension the plague hit, the Dock Attendant at Coinjock NC called them Fuzzy Bugs or Poop Green and Die bugs

[boatman1]

What a plague! Couple of years ago about this time of year I was bringing the boat north from a Florida winter, and on the last leg from Norfolk to the Piankatank (Deltaville) a hoard of biting flies descended on me as I was motoring along, well away from shore.I would have given a weeks pay for a breeze, but no. There were tens of thousands of them and they about drove me mad. Not sure of their pedigree, but all the plagues of man couldn’t have been worse. Oh, the joys of yachting.