Boatnerd Discussion Forum

Here in Duluth.

http://www.northlandsnewscenter.com/news/local/Mayfly-maham-at-West-Duluth-gas-station-389195641.html

We shut the cabin lights off when they were bad...........

[quote="ed"]here along lake Saint Clair, they create a terrific odor the day after they die. some times the fire department is called out to hose-down an intersection because cars are unable to stop on the slippery pavement once they die off. just a large mess ![/quote]

Actually it was downbound on Lake St. Clair in the early '70s on the Clarke where I saw my first big hatching. We had to hose off the boat because they were all over. Never saw so many bugs in my life.

here along lake Saint Clair, they create a terrific odor the day after they die. some times the fire department is called out to hose-down an intersection because cars are unable to stop on the slippery pavement once they die off. just a large mess !

Good reading.

http://www.ns.umich.edu/new/releases/4038-mayflies-or-fishflies

Just type in "May Fly" into a search engine. You'll find many sites to go to.

http://www.mayflynews.net/facts.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayfly

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/minnaqua/speciesprofile/mayfly.html

We always called them fishflies in the Soo growing up in the 70s. Occasionally Canadian soldiers, but never heard mayflies. Must be a regional thing.

Maybe it depends on what part of Michigan you grew up in. I was born and raised in NW Lower Peninsula, I'm 64 years old, live in Minnesota now, and I can honestly say-never heard them called
fishflies. Not disputing you, but not just called fishflies in Michigan. My parents also called them Canadian Soldiers and Mayflies. They spent almost their entire lives in Michigan, and I never heard the term "fishflies" come out of their mouths.

For years and years New Baltimore, MI has a Fish Fly Festival

I'm originally from Michigan and when I sailed in the '70s we called them Canadian Soldiers or Mayflies. Never heard them called "fishflies."

I vividly remember the swarms of fishflies during my days as a paperboy in Algonac during the 1980s. You had the be extremely careful bringing your bike to a stop at a corner as dead fishflies would pile up below the street lamps. Being slippery it would be easy to slide out into the street and possibly in front of a moving car. Naturally I tried to avoid as many of the piles of carcasses as I could, but inevitably you built up quite a bit of fishfly remains in your bike tires (and on the back of your jacket if you weren't careful). Before taking my bike home at the end of the route I would ride on the gravel shoulder up and down Michigan street several times to clean my tires. After returning home I washed my bike down in the backyard. Luckily the onslaught of fishflies only lasted a few days at a time during the 4 years I worked the paper route. The smell of rotting fishflies is unforgettable.

In Michigan and Ontario they are called Fishflies.

I was aboard the Burns Harbor one year, and the Deck Watch left the screen door open to the galley. I walked into the galley after midnight and the ceiling of the galley and the crews mess were alive with thousands. After closing the doors, I got out some spray and started on the ceilings. By the time I finished I had about a foot of carcasses in the bottom of a trash can. Once the sun had gone down they flew to the lights in the galley and covered the ceilings. Apparently the watch didn't want to have to open the door each time he came through. I almost hauled the trash can down to his room to dump them on his floor.

The year was 2000, and on a riverboat on the Cleveland shuttle, conditions must have been just right for these big brown or black and white spiders. They were everywhere, above, below and inside everything. Armed with spray, maybe six cans, we worked for a watch on them. Didn't bother me then, but the memory has always been a little creepy.

My introduction to Mayflies came when I was a bit younger and was taking my summer trip with our family when one of the men said "Look at all the Canadian Soldiers swimming in the water". I rushed to the side expecting to see a bunch of Mounties in their red jackets swimming across the river from Sarnia. All I saw was a mess of bugs.

Then I learned their true name was 'Mayflies'. They seemed to be especially numerous on Lake Erie. They swarmed around the deck lights and any other source of light. They covered screens on doors and got inside when a door was opened. They flew through open corridors to the windlass room if the outer hatch was left open. They were so numerous that walking the decks could be dangerous due to the slipperiness of their crushed bodies. To get rid of them, the deck lines had to be used to wash them away and sometimes even shovels were used to dispose of them. Since they didn't bite like other insects, I have yet to figure out what their purpose was. Maybe they were a bountiful feast for Lake Erie perch and walleyes.

I didn't know until today that they are officially called Ephemeroptera. Fascinating, eh? No doubt countless Lakes sailors are very interested in these things and lay awake nights anticipating cleaning the decks tomorrow. But they are interesting.

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/arthropoda/uniramia/ephemeroptera.html