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Swamp Fly

Need some help/advice

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I find myself in a place I really don't like being.  The forth anniversary date of my wife passing away is coming up in a couple of days.  On top of that this storm has not helped with my general hatred of this time of year.  I don't play well with others on that day.  What I have done in the past is get out in the woods, usually canoeing one of the creeks or rivers. After Hurricane Ian the peace river hit a record flood level and is still twice flood stage.  I could put the canoe in at Wachulla and would just about be in Charlotte Harbor in twenty minutes.  All of the creeks and rivers are in flood stage.  Since we have sheet flow down here the woods for miles and miles around are the source of the water.  So now what?  I need recharge my batteries or some random carpetbagger is gonna get fed to a gator out back before the week is over.  Any ideas?  It really does need to be away from people, I just don't play well with others that day.

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My condolences for your loss.   The best I can offer is to pack the camping gear, trailer the canoe and get to a location that Ian didn't effect  (in another state if necessary).  The adventure of canoeing or fishing unfamiliar waters can take your mind off things.  Best wishes to you.

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Come up to the Caloosahatchee in Moore Haven. Lake hicpochee has been holding giant gills on the river points, culverts are flowing and snook and tarpon should be gathering in numbers. Schools of sunshine bass were smashing anything on top Sunday morning as I was waiting for an appropriate time to crank up the chainsaw.  All within easy paddling distance.

For lodging..not much around here.. you could camp at hickpochee, but 🦟 might carry you off.  Fisheating creek campground has been way above flood stage, and I'm not sure if the campground is open yet or if there is any dry ground at all.  

Call me if you like.. or if I happen to see you, I'll politely wave and keep my distance.😁
 

 

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Thanks Guys,

I'd love to take off and hit the Blue Ridge Mountains and fish for a few days. It's not in the cards, I can't abandon friends and family to this war zone that Hurricane Ian left us with. I already feel selfish disappearing tomorrow.  Maybe I should think about planning a trip out of town sometime.

The Swamp Angels are starting to get bad and it'll get even worse.  It always gets bad about 7 days after a hurricane because of the standing water.  I'm already having to spray down my front door with deet.  Besides without power I'm pretty much camping...in my house. <sigh>  Dinner came off one of my trusty pump up Colmans tonight.  Being on the Caloosahatchee in a canoe is daunting, especially in my solo canoe which doesn't have much freeboard.  Some of the displacement hulls throw a four foot bow wave and the only thing they seem to care about is not spilling their cocktail when they run over a small boat.  I have the skill to handle it but if I'm constantly looking over my shoulder for the next boat I think the trip would wind me up even further.  I'd love to try Fisheating Creek, in fact it's my first choice, but I too question if I can get access.  I'll try one of the creeks a little to the north, they are high but I know them well including where the strainers etc. are.  Not sure if I'll be able to fish but it's more about just being out there and letting some of our senses loose that get sabotaged by our not too bright smart phones.  If that doesn't work I'll try Telegragh, the question is if new tree falls have blocked it.  Big breem, bass, baby tarpon and snook sounds like a blast, maybe we can get together and do that soon.  You have no need to worry about me, you certainly aren't a carpetbagger.  Plenty of them around though, like flies to manure, they have been pouring in from Tallahassee, D.C., and elsewhere.

 

Swamp

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11 hours ago, Swamp Fly said:

Thanks Guys,

I'd love to take off and hit the Blue Ridge Mountains and fish for a few days. It's not in the cards, I can't abandon friends and family to this war zone that Hurricane Ian left us with. I already feel selfish disappearing tomorrow.  Maybe I should think about planning a trip out of town sometime.

The Swamp Angels are starting to get bad and it'll get even worse.  It always gets bad about 7 days after a hurricane because of the standing water.  I'm already having to spray down my front door with deet.  

Swamp

Try spraying your fishing clothes with Permanone (Premethrin). It will last through several washing cycles.

”Permethrin Tick Tests: Test on ticks conducted in Massachusetts concluded that 100% protection was provided against the Deer tick (Ixodes Scapularis) which is the primary vector of Lyme disease in the Midwest and Northeast. The same outstanding results occurred when testing the Western Black Legged tick, Lone Star tick, American Dog tick and Brown Dog tick. Similar results have been found with other tick species throughout the United States and Europe. Two detergent washings did not diminish repellent killing action of permethrin-treated uniforms. In tests, ticks that crossed only 10 inches of treated fabric fell from the uniform, later dying due to this limited exposure.”

DEET versus Permethrin as a Tick Repellent

”DEET is an excellent mosquito repellent, but it is a fairly poor tick repellent…… The Minnesota Insect-Borne Disease Education Council conducted a field test … and found that the permethrin products outperformed the DEET-containing tick repellents. A shoe was sprayed with Duranon (0.5% permethrin). Three weeks later, it was tested against a recently sprayed shoe using Deep Woods Off (35 % DEET). Ticks that made contact with the Duranon-sprayed shoe immediately rolled up and dropped off. Ticks on the soaking-wet DEET saturated shoe continued to crawl unimpaired.”

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Try picaridin instead of DEET as an insect repellant. It is non greasy, won't damage plastics or fly lines, and won't make your lips numb.

https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/insect-repellents.html

"A landmark 2002 study in the New England Journal of Medicine compared the efficacy of DEET at different concentrations and found that the duration of complete mosquito protection ranged from one to two hours for concentrations between 5 and 10 percent, four to five hours at around 20 percent, and only marginally longer up to 50 percent, with no improvement at higher levels. “Slow-release” formulas can extend protection time to eight hours or more. When it comes to picaridin, recent studies have indicated that a concentration of 7 percent is equivalent to about 10 percent DEET (one to two hours of protection), and a 20 percent concentration offers the same protection (four to five hours) as an equivalent DEET concentration.

https://www.outdoors.org/articles/amc-outdoors/picaridin-vs-deet-which-is-the-best-insect-repellent

"A 2018 science review comparing the mosquito repellency of DEET with picaridin considered more than 140 field and laboratory studies and found no significant difference in performance.4 EPA registration data indicate that picaridin at a concentration of 20 percent is effective against mosquitoes and ticks for eight to 14 hours, and at a concentration of 10 percent it is effective for five to 12 hours.

Picaridin does not carry the same neurotoxicity concerns as DEET, but has not been used as extensively by people. Overall, EWG’s assessment is that picaridin is a good alternative to DEET with many of the same advantages and without the same disadvantages."

https://www.ewg.org/research/ewgs-guide-bug-repellents/repellent-chemicals

I use Repel Tick Defense which is a 15% Picaridin spray.

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I ended up going to a pair of creeks north of me.  The first has a long access road and there was an agricultural vehicle blocking the road, the two man crew was clearing the top of a downed oak tree.  Rather than sitting there giving them the sink eye. I got out and helped them for half an hour.  I make it back into the preserve area and just about make it to the launch but there is a big pine tree completely blocking the road.  I wasn't in the mood to carry the canoe and all of my gear the final 1/4 mile.  Actually I knew I wasn't going to want to carry it back again was the real issue.  So I drove back out and towards the second creek.  The road to it crosses both creeks so I decided to take a look at the creek I really wanted to paddle.  It was pretty blown and While I can and have launched at the bridge it was going to be a struggle to paddle up stream.  The second stream was high but doable, it has a much smaller drainage area so it comes down faster.  Unfortunately there are more houses on this creek and the first thing I hear is a generator,  Now I can't blame the owners for wanting some lights etc. on in their house especially since I'm running one at home myself.  I hurry along up the creek.  Next house, next generator, lather rinse repeat.  So I finally get out to the populated area and cam relax a bit.  It was somewhat sad to see all of the broken trees. It's going to take decades to replace them and it will take years for faster growing tree and bushes to fill in the canopy.  That's the way these storms work.  A couple of miles later the stream narrows some and the water velocity picks up more work but still fun until I find a palm tree down from one bank to the other. That was that.  I paddle back down steam just fast enough to control the canoe until I get back to the houses and the generators.  Made made sounds bother me a lot more when I'm out in the woods than in town.  I think it's because my thoughts and senses are directed outwards much more "out there".  Part of the reason I go out there to start with. well I decide That I wasn't really having fun at that point and start to move faster.  Again, I'm not throwing rocks at the home owners not only do they have the right to make "noise" on their own property but there is a legitimate need to do it but I can listen to my own generator at home.  All in all I got out relaxed a bit got my mind focused away from myself, so mission accomplished even if it is usually more enjoyable.  I thew a line a little bit but there just wasn't much happening.  The fish were either in the back waters or down stream where there was less current.

 

Yes I agree Permethrin is a great product. I have a container of concentrate that I will be diluting and then soaking my outdoor clothes/hammock/etc. in. From what I'm reading The protection last quite a number of washings.  FYI my research has show that permithrin is highly toxic to cats and, but only until it has dried once dried it's fine.  So for you cat owners like myself be aware of that.  As far as picaridin is concerned, I bought a container for evaluation, so far so good.  I still have plenty of deet in spray cans so that is why I use it on the front door to the house.  Spraying the door down helps a lot because the darned skeeters will dance on the surface until you open the door and suck them into the house.

 

Swamp

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