When I woke up and the gazillions of Sturgeon Creek flies (those brain-challenged flies that look like mosquitoes on steroids) that had been clinging to the road side of my new house for three days were almost gone, I thought maybe the neighbours were exaggerating about this two-week fly horror.
Well, they were right. It was when I opened the curtains to the sliding doors on the lakeside of my little rancher that I realized — they’re baaaaaack!! There were so many of them that I could barely see out the windows. Even the deck and the picnic table on it were covered in flies!
Welcome to lakeside living, said my new hairdresser, Brad, the owner of Salon 22 in Kingsville. From my description, though, it seems there are more flies at my house in Leamington than down the road in Kingsville. Of course, everyone in the salon was only too eager to regale this newcomer to Lake Erie living with tales of worse to come. They said gigantic fish flies (some call them June bugs) will arrive any time now — and could blanket my house for up to 4 weeks! Bonus: they stink like dead fish!
For someone who likes a clean house, lakeside living is becoming an eye-opener. I thought the spiders and their web-building games were a nuisance. But at least I could sweep the webs away with a scoping broom (I have since been informed I should call Butch to spray for spiders twice a year). With the Sturgeon Creek flies, I have determined that a power washer is the only thing to get their dead carcasses — and green poop — off my light blue siding and white window sills.
I might need extra tools in my cleaning arsenal, but I figure it’s all worth it to live by the lake. After all, that’s why I moved to Leamington. So bring on the fish flies — I’m armed and ready!
If anyone knows any tricks to keep all those flies away, please let me know.
Tags: fish flies
I can really sympathize with newcomers to this area if they haven’t experienced these darned flies before. I live near Lake St. Clair and we just love the view across the water. But when it’s fly season, it’s really bad. I have a sister in Niagara Falls and they’re almost as bad at her place on the Niagara River. The experts tell me they’re a sign of a healthy environment and just the right temperatures (water and air) for breeding. Believe me, you learn to live with them. The view and the tranquility of the water make it all worth while.
I guess the reason you have so many spiders is because the feedin’ is just too good!
These lucky creatures feast on Sturgeon Creek flies in late May and then gorge themselves again a few weeks later on the nasty “fish flies”.
But maybe they can help you clean up too! If you leave them to their webmaking, perhaps you can use your scoping broom after they’ve caught their haul, and take care of them and their flies all at the same time!
The good news, Linda, is that your water must be of really good quality because that’s what fish flies thrive on. In southern Manitoba we also call them shad flies and May flies. And yes, they’re really gross.
There isn’t a whole lot you can do other than reduce their nuisance value a bit. But you could try using those fly-strips — although it sounds like you’ll likely go through a lot of them — and get a couple of those bug-zapper fly-light lamps to attract them. Other than that, make sure you’ve got good screens on your house to keep them out.
Oh, one more thing: fish flies make really good fish bait. So why not just forget about them and go fishing?
You’ve brought back memories of my youth. As a young child, my parents had a business near the St Lawrence River, and during shad fly season, the front of the store was covered with these disgusting flying creatures. Being that we had a fruit stand out front, needless to say, we could not just wait until the end of the season to clean, it became a daily adventure. Nothing a broom and dustpan could not handle, but a pain none the less. Hopefully your Sturgeon flies don’t last much longer than the two weeks and just think of the exercice you will get as you sweep off the sides of your home and deck.