World Class

June 21, 2018

Ring Ring… Ring Ring…

“North Park Anglers,”

“Hey, I was just calling to ask how the mosquitoes were up there?”

“They’re world class, bud.”

The Bug Station at North Park Anglers…come in and get geared up!

If you were to call the shop on any given day from June to August and ask how the mosquitoes were, “world class” is the answer you would be given. We’ve talked about it before and we’re going to talk about it again, because sometimes world class fishing comes with world class mosquitoes and discomfort. I’m sure by now most of you have heard the jokes and horror stories about mosquitoes the size of pelicans that create a black cloud around your car when you pull up to any of our lakes and rivers. We know of many people who refuse to come up to Walden during the summer months because they hate the mosquitoes, and every day during their peak season we have people running into the shop begging for bug spray and some sort of remedy to escape, or at least tolerate the ruthless creatures.

“How do you guys do it, man? I can barely spend 10 minutes outside with them and you guys are out there all day with those *choice word* things,” Is a question we often encounter here in the shop. And while it’s all fun and games to talk about how bad the mosquitoes are up here, it’s not very much fun if you don’t know how to wrangle them. Being fly fishing guides in North Park, we pretty much have our mosquito wrangling methods dialed down to a science. When you spend all day every day with the beasts, you get pretty good at learning how to deal with them, especially when you know that around any river bend could be the brown of a lifetime…or another plume of mosquitoes. We’re going to let you in on our tools of the trade, and teach you how the guides at North Park Anglers deal with mosquitoes so you can spend more time on the water catching fish and less time in the car itching your life away.

The gear we use:

• Bug spray with deet
  • • • • • • We use both aerosol and pump bug spray with a high amount of deet, typically 40% or more. Bug spray without deet is a waste of time and money up here. Most of us like to wet-wade, so we spray our pants and shirts with bug spray too, however waders are a good option to keep the bugs off too.
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• Neck gator
  • • • • • • Neck gators aren’t only for sun protection anymore. We spray ours with bug spray before we put them on and have found that it really helps keep the bugs off of our neck and face without having to put the deet directly on our skin. You can leave it down around your neck for most of the day, and when the bugs really pick up you can pull it up around your head, face, and neck for full protection. They’re lightweight too, so you won’t get overheated.
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• Ball Cap
  • • • • • • • Sometimes, especially for the ladies and those with longer hair who can’t pull neck gators over their head very well, we will spray our ball caps with bug spray. I personally like to use an older worn out ball cap that’s already kind of gross, because the deet, sweat, and sun will turn it into a hat you probably won’t want to wear out in public very much.  Again, this helps keep the bugs away from your head and face and is a good assistant to the neck gator, for those who have a hard time pulling it up over their head.
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• Bugstopper/Insect-shield hoodies
  • • • • • • • Both Simms and Orvis make some version of a bug repelling hoodie and they WORK. The shirts are infused with permethrin and are made out of a thicker, yet still light weight, material that repels the mosquitoes and does not allow them to bite through the shirt. At the shop, we prefer the hoodie version so we can pull the hood up over the back of our neck, head, and ears to keep the bugs and sun out.
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• ThermaCell
  • • • • • • • • Thermacells work great when you’re stationary by creating a barrier around you that keeps the mosquitoes away. We use ours when we are launching boats in rivers or eating lunch outside.
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• Cigars
  • • • • • • • • Basically like a ThermaCell, but human powered.
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• Mental Toughness
  • • • • • • • • Mental toughness is probably the biggest and most important tool to have when it comes to battling the mosquitoes. The truth of the matter is that you’re going to get bit, you’re going to be uncomfortable, and you’re going to feel gross. For us, it’s discomfort that keeps us coming back for more every day and having stories to tell the next day about how fighting the mosquitoes was almost as brutal as fishing the fish.

Luckily for you we sell most of the items on this list in our shop, so you can get your defense mechanisms as soon as you get up here, because sometimes world class fishing comes with world class mosquitoes.

Written by: Taylor Martin