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18-05-2022, 08:42
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#1
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Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Liveaboards
Boat: Brewer 44
Posts: 108
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Maryland/new jersey Fly attack
While transiting north along the coasts of Maryland and New Jersey we and other boats were descended upon by hoards of biting flies. We were 10-20 miles off shore with no seaweed or flotsum to speak of. Does anyone know what these miserable creatures are and how they get so far out to sea. Any advice on how to get ride of them would also be appreciated. They are driving us insane.
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18-05-2022, 09:29
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#2
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Virginia
Posts: 958
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Re: Maryland/new jersey Fly attack
Quote:
Originally Posted by GinoDelG
While transiting north along the coasts of Maryland and New Jersey we and other boats were descended upon by hoards of biting flies. We were 10-20 miles off shore with no seaweed or flotsum to speak of. Does anyone know what these miserable creatures are and how they get so far out to sea. Any advice on how to get ride of them would also be appreciated. They are driving us insane.
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We call them green heads. They get blown off the marshes in westerly winds. Bug repellent can help. A change in wind direction will help the most. Sorry I can't offer more help/hope.
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18-05-2022, 10:31
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#3
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Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2015
Boat: Bruce Bingham Christina 49
Posts: 3,328
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Re: Maryland/new jersey Fly attack
They are a annoying, but fairly slow. Everyone on board should be armed w/a good fly swatter and know how to use it!
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18-05-2022, 10:35
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#4
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Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Santa Cruz
Boat: SAnta Cruz 27
Posts: 6,734
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Re: Maryland/new jersey Fly attack
I actually have employed a swatter in each hand and arrived in NYC with hundreds of carcasses. We use the mosquito bug screens and drapes that every tropical cruiser has.
Consider yourself part of the food chain
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18-05-2022, 10:37
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#5
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2021
Location: Somewhere in the Gulf of Maine
Boat: THEN: Indefatigable Bristol Caravel #172; NOW: 42 makes of other people's boats (and counting)
Posts: 874
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Re: Maryland/new jersey Fly attack
Quote:
Originally Posted by GinoDelG
While transiting north along the coasts of Maryland and New Jersey we and other boats were descended upon by hoards of biting flies. We were 10-20 miles off shore with no seaweed or flotsum to speak of. Does anyone know what these miserable creatures are and how they get so far out to sea. Any advice on how to get ride of them would also be appreciated. They are driving us insane.
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Oh, don't I get you! I'm covered with bites!!
Here's my solution. I use it for skeeters and greenies in New England. It's coming next time I go south.
Fry 'em. Two double-A batteries.
__________________
We ran aground at 2300. Dad fired off flares all night, to no avail. In the morning, Mom called the Coast Guard and demanded to know why they had not responded. "But ma'm," came the abashed reply. "Yesterday was July 4th!"
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18-05-2022, 10:40
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#6
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Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2015
Boat: Bruce Bingham Christina 49
Posts: 3,328
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Re: Maryland/new jersey Fly attack
Don,
Are you good w/both hand/arms?
We never arrive at our destination w/the kill, but toss them in for fish food.
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18-05-2022, 12:37
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#7
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Registered User
Join Date: May 2018
Location: Northfield, NJ
Boat: Hunter 170
Posts: 85
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Re: Maryland/new jersey Fly attack
A bit early for Green heads.
We do have no see em's at this time of the year.
No see em's are just annoying. You need to use bug stuff like skin so soft.
Greenheads are a special kind of evil. Bug sprays do not work. They just dont suck your blood, they first rip off your skin. They are armor plated, so just a standard swat does not work for them. You have to swing for the fence to kill them.
Then we have mosquitos too.
I am a life long close to the NJ shore resident. Currently sailing out of Brigantine Yacht club. I know the bugs intimately.
At least there are no Ticks or Chiggers on the water.
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18-05-2022, 13:02
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#8
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Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: miami,fl
Boat: EggHarbor,Sportfish,35
Posts: 320
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Re: Maryland/new jersey Fly attack
Holy SSSS!!! I thought we had it bad in S Florida! Armor plated blood sucking flies!!! Keep them up there!
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18-05-2022, 15:44
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#9
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Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2019
Posts: 1,636
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Re: Maryland/new jersey Fly attack
Avoid the Delaware River, they're what you experienced times 100!
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18-05-2022, 16:12
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#10
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2018
Boat: 50ft Custom Fast Catamaran
Posts: 11,832
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Re: Maryland/new jersey Fly attack
These aren’t green heads I don’t think.
Pretty sure these are those stupid, annoying flies that look like houseflies. All fine and dandy, until you are standing there at the helm and one starts biting your ankle.
If you spend a lot of time offshore sailing in the Northeast, you’ll run into these all the time. They are quite a nuisance.
Whatever these are, they don’t exist on land or very close to shore.
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18-05-2022, 16:18
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#11
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Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Canada
Boat: Shopping...
Posts: 309
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Re: Maryland/new jersey Fly attack
Holly molly!!! It happened to us when transiting from Deltaville to Cape May. Boat interior was packed with them flies.
When at anchor, we went all the way into the forepeak and pushed them thru the hatch. But with minimal success, we have had to smash ten’s of them and wash interior completely.
Not a great souvenir!!
__________________
Sur le même bateau, l'homme de terre et l'homme de mer ont deux buts différents. Le but du premier est d'arriver, le but du deuxième est de repartir.
La terre nous tire vers le passé, la mer les pousse vers le futur.- Albert Londres, 1927
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18-05-2022, 16:27
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#12
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Virginia
Posts: 958
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Re: Maryland/new jersey Fly attack
Quote:
Originally Posted by landsend
Holy SSSS!!! I thought we had it bad in S Florida! Armor plated blood sucking flies!!! Keep them up there!
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Yes, afraid so. Many times had little blood trails from the bites and unfortunately for me I also would develop large and very itchy welts from the bites. I miss NJ for a lot of reasons but I certainly don't miss the greenheads?
NJ doesn't have gators so we at least have that. :-)
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18-05-2022, 19:19
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#13
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Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Marquesas Islands
Boat: Nauticat 43
Posts: 402
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Re: Maryland/new jersey Fly attack
I agree you will need to take special precautions keeping them out of the interior of your boat. But, some will get in. We use flyswatters and the battery operated device that attracts flies with light and electrifies them. Our observation was the flies take off jumping forward so we could improve our kill rate knowing the direction of their next move.
We've experienced swarms of biting flies sometimes when we pass some freighters and some islands. I'm sure the windspeed and direction are contributory for how we're impacted. Besides the wind pushing these insects so far offshore, I'm inclined to think they have adapted to the environment and now reside offshore even though, like you note, there are no notable seaweed or other vegetative islands about.
Once we were a few miles offshore on Cape Cod Bay and a small flycatching bird landed in the cockpit. He wasn't afraid of us and we were fascinated to see how effective he was capturing flies. Unfortunately, he was a small bird and eventually ate his fill. Then, we were left to our own devices once again.
__________________
"If you don't know where you're going, you might wind up somewhere else." Yogi Berra
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18-05-2022, 19:33
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#14
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Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2020
Location: Fond du Lac WI
Boat: Watkins 27 - 27'
Posts: 922
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Re: Maryland/new jersey Fly attack
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chotu
These aren’t green heads I don’t think.
Pretty sure these are those stupid, annoying flies that look like houseflies. All fine and dandy, until you are standing there at the helm and one starts biting your ankle.
If you spend a lot of time offshore sailing in the Northeast, you’ll run into these all the time. They are quite a nuisance.
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Sounds like the flies on and around Lake Michigan (and probably the rest of the Great Lakes) about mid-summer. Too fast to swat by hand, but if you don't kill them they just bite someplace else. Good news is 'OFF' and 'Repel' work to keep them a bay.
__________________
"you ain't never smelled diesel 'til you've snorkled a submarine in a tail-wind"
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18-05-2022, 19:55
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#15
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Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: New York
Boat: Columbia 50
Posts: 698
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Re: Maryland/new jersey Fly attack
Long island sound - smaller, biting flies, not greenies. The come in ones and twos, nonstop. I once had to stop before entering port jeff to rig the wash down hose, hundreds of carcasses washed away before going on to pick up a buddy.
They know when you’re busy with your hands full, too. That’s when they go for the ankles. They always go for the ankles. Evil MF’ers…..
I’m sure Hell is full of flies.
Noseeums, on the other hand, tend to be near estuaries, tidal areas, stuff like that. Particularly onerous at sunset, and I know from personal experience they are unreasonably attracted to wet varnish.
Matt
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