Come Fly, Away

Some of you will recall how we handled a nasty biting fly problem along our driveway at our former home on Blue Goose last year.  After much research on the Internet, Macy came up with the sticky stuff on a blue pail approach that many claimed worked.  I put it in the category of the old British April Fools movie on the spaghetti harvest in Italy which showed happy farmers picking it from trees.  It worked, although thankfully our drive and property was very secluded.  (Not sure what tunes Macy listened to while parading up and down the drive)  Have you ever seen Macy so happy?  And the house sold.

Biting flies have been a problem this year on the beach Up North.  Not convinced our neighbors were ready for the sight of Macy parading around the beach with the blue bucket on a broom handle, I turned to my good friends at Fleet Farm.  Voila, the Fly Captivator. 

The flies are attracted by the "Secret Formula Super Fly Attractor" and they fly through vents (apparently by the hundreds) on the top and drown in the secret sauce.  One thing I learned when I read the instructions, is that the approach to catching flies is much like the approach to losing weight.  To successfully lose weight, one must combine both diet and exercise.  To successfully catch flies, you must use the Fly Captivator along with "good manure management"! (I'm not making this up)  Apparently Up North cottage owners are not the target demographic.

After one weekend the results are mixed.  It must take a while for the "Secret Formula Super Fly Attractor" to emit it's alluring stench aroma.  We've caught mostly "no see ums", which any camper can tell you are also a pain to deal with.  No doubt the big guys will follow.  As you can see the Fly Captivator is unobtrusive.

(It's on the small table.)  When the Fly Captivator is half full with dead flies, it's recommended you empty it.  I suspect the concept of unobtrussive will weaken at that point as well.  The Captivator is reuseable, and fortunately I got extra "Secret Formula Super Fly Attractor".  It's recommended you bury the spent secret sauce and the dead flies for composting...although one would think if you are practicing "good manure management" this would be overkill.  Time to Google up this whole manure management thing.

We'll keep you posted.