Isle Royale Forums

Hi all!

My sister and I will be visiting IR July 1-5. We have head nets/bug spray and have treated our clothes. Anyone have any current information on the black fly/mosquito situation?

TIA,
Susan

Just got back from island today. We were there from June 25-29 and only saw about 2-3 black flies. Didn’t get bit. We only treated our tent and not our clothes. We applied 100% deet in the am and pm because the mosquitoes were starting to get bad. They weren’t terrible. Didn’t need the head bug net for us. My husband only got bit on the places his missed with the deet and only in the early am. They weren’t active in biting after around 10am. The low lying wet areas were the worst but I had shorts on the last day and sprayed with deet and didn’t get one single bite. We stayed moving to keep them from laying. They seemed to be a little slow when it comes to biting. You have a few seconds to swat them before they bite. We stayed each night in a shelter. So that helped a lot. But the weather was warm so I expect them to be in greater numbers for you. But the 100% deet is the ticket to keeping them away. Fun travels!!

Hey SusanCurtis02, how were the bugs?! Doing my own trip July 11th-14th.

We really didn’t see any black flies until our last day (7/5). Mosquitos were out, but Deet took care of them. I’m jealous of your trip- can’t wait to go back.

Just got off queen, sitting at Bella Vista. Did five nights backpacking. Mosquito out but not bad by Wisconsin standards. Had bug spray on every day to hike, ran thermocell in camp. Still had a few mosquito around us. Had a really bad stretch hiking from greenstone to Daisy farm. Overall only one bite for me. On another note, saw moose every day, we have been to island four previous times and saw none, noticable browse line. Be prepared bug wise but not scared. I hope everyone had a great trip, we did.

Any updates? Heading over with the family July 30...

Just returned home from a McCrgo Cove East to Tobin Harbor packrafting from August 5-15, 2019.
Mosquitoes 2 on a scale of 10; Black Flies O on a scale of 10; Sand Flies (biting) 7 on a scale of 10.

Just returned from kayaking around Tobin and Rock Harbor areas. Biting flies were a nuisance for about an hour around sunset. Put on long pants. Other than that, a few sluggish mosquitoes in woody areas. Never used my insect repellent or headset.

Bobcat1 wrote: ↑Sun Aug 18, 2019 8:44 am Just returned from kayaking around Tobin and Rock Harbor areas. Biting flies were a nuisance for about an hour around sunset. Put on long pants. Other than that, a few sluggish mosquitoes in woody areas. Never used my insect repellent or headset.

Good trip?

Bobcat1 wrote: ↑Sun Aug 18, 2019 8:44 am Just returned from kayaking around Tobin and Rock Harbor areas. Biting flies were a nuisance for about an hour around sunset. Put on long pants. Other than that, a few sluggish mosquitoes in woody areas. Never used my insect repellent or headset.

Thanks for the bug report, Bobcat.
Thought you'd still be on island when I arrived on Friday? Cut short?
Hope it was a good time, regardless!