Homemade fly paper

[Mark on TL]

If only. Thanks.

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[socaldmax]

Originally Posted by Mark on TL

It seems there is a current to everything, if you can feel it. I didn't make any fly paper today. Instead I noticed that they seem to go home at night. They woke me a little after dawn. I tolerated the little mother****ers all day, then at twilight, I shoed them all off, and only a couple came back. I haven't killed them yet, but I will if I have to.

This is a good anchorage, and I hate to surrender it to flies. I keep wondering if another twenty feet from shore will make a difference.

Just trying to make a life in the Florida keys.

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Is it possible to install a screen on your boat to give you some fly-free cockpit space and keep them out of the interior?

[Mark on TL]

Yeah, but what a hassel. Man, they've lived here longer than me. I just need to find a way to fit in.

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[Mark on TL]

I just want to get out of their territory.

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[delmarrey]

You should go to Crescent City, CA some time. I stopped off there on my way down from Seattle. I passed this one island where the seals live and shoot. The flies swarmed over to the boat. I was killing the things all the way to SF.

[Mark on TL]

****ing flies...

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[JPA Cate]

Mark, I know this won't help for the Labor Day Weekend, but here's what we did in the Solomon Is., where the flies are horrid. We bought a mosquito net, soaked it in permethrins, and draped it over the boom to enclose the cockpit. And there we could be any time, no fears of the malarial mosquitos, and it was kinda fun to watch the flies die. Don't do it if you don't want them to die.

Ann

[Mark on TL]

I like seeing them die

I'm amazed though, that the water in the bag thing actually works. I was curious, but when I saw a clear plastic bag half filed with water tacked to the wall of a local bar, I decided to give it a try.

During daylight hours, there were 12-20 flies in my cabin at any given moment. I put some seawater in a Ziploc freezer bag, and tied it in the middle of my companionway. Almost immediately, the number of flies dropped to 3-5. And it stayed that way all day!

I have no idea what the mechanism is, whether the distorted light bothers them, or they get creeped out by water suspended in midair. But I'm telling you, it works here in Key West off Fleming Key. I don't even mind bumping my head on it when I come out to my cockpit.

Anyway, I finally found a fly swatter today (I couldn't believe how many places didn't have them), and I am blissfully free of flies as the sun goes down.

Oh, there's one. I can handle that.

Thanks everyone for your input.

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[socaldmax]

I've seen flyswatter dart guns that are pretty fun to shoot, only $7. I once told my mom that she couldn't catch a fly with chopsticks like Mr. Miyagi, damned if she didn't do it on the 2nd try, about 15 min later!

At this advanced age I'm still fast enough to kill them by hand, but then I have to wash my hands after every kill. I'm amazed that water in a bag trick works, I'll have to try that next time I go camping. I've seen people keep a glass jar of water in their yard, thinking it keeps dogs out of their yards, I know that doesn't work.