While the weather here is nice, no mom would want a nice cook-out by the Lake Winnebago on Mother's Day. Here is the reason: Lake flies. They hatch like clockwork around Mother's Day. They swarm and get all over everything for about a week, then they are gone.
They don't bite, sting, spread disease or eat crops. They just land on everything, stink and stain when squished and make make a buzzing noise. They come out of the lake, mate and die. A good storm will get rid of them. And the cats like them, so none stay around in the house for long!
The fish love the larvae, and for a while we thought the zebra mussels might have done the lake flies in. Zebra mussels are an invasive species here. But after two or three years of no lake flies, it was back to normal.
Here is a story about who lake flies came to Lake Winnebago. Apparently, lake flies thrived in a lake or two in Africa. Some professor at a university in Chicago thought, "I wonder if they would also thrive in Lake Winnebago." He brought them here and they did, indeed, thrive. If it's true, it's just another reason for the rivalry between Wisconsinites and folks from Illinois , especially those from Chicago. 
So, instead of gardening, I can only plan what I'll plant when these nasty bugs are gone. Luckily for me, I mowed the lawn the day before the hatch!
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4 comments:
how do you get rid of the lake flys?
You may have guessed that it's that time of year again.
You don't get rid of lake flies. You hope for a good strong storm after they hatch. Or you wait a week or two until they all die off. Then you take a power washer to the house and the car to the car wash...
We had a good storm this year, but it was too early -- they hadn't all hatched yet.
Urban Myth. This species of Lake Fly is native to the lake and the region, west to the Dakotas and north into Canada. There are local variations on the myth blaming the state DNR and local universities.
Thanks for the info, Mike. I kind of figured that was the case, but many stories like this have a root in truth. It's hard to separate fact from fiction.
And stranger things have happened.
I've lived in Minnesota and South Dakota but nowhere near a lake of any size, so I hadn't seen them before I moved here. It's interesting to know they are more widespread than I thought.
I wonder how our late spring will affect the lake flies this year...
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