We recently had our first wave of lake flies in Sheffield Lake a few weeks ago. For the first batch of this year, it wasn't too bad. It certainly didn't compare with the old days that my parents talked about, when Lorain had to use front loaders to clean them up. Or when they were so thick on the sidewalks that they were slippery to walk on.
The article above is from the Lorain Journal of June 23, 1951 – almost exactly 60 years ago – and dates from those days. The article, by Richard J. Maloy, provides a nice explanation about the life cycle of this bothersome bug. (Actually the Morning Journal should just rerun it when the inevitable time comes that they have to deal with this annual topic again.)
All I know is last year's Canadian Solider attack was much worse (click here for a recap)!
Dan - what year did they reappear? I don't recall them during the years I lived in Lorain. My father said you started to see more of them once the zebra mussels invaded and cleaned the water. I do remember my mother telling me about the fire dept needing to hose off the surface of the bridges to keep the cars from skidding out of control. About 8 years ago I travelled up to MI to pick up a boat, and I must have timed it just perfectly because the lake flies were out in force. what an invasion
ReplyDeleteHi Randall,
ReplyDeleteI don't remember ever seeing one while I was growing up in Lorain either, despite the tales my parents told me.
.According to an online fact sheet, they didn't make their comeback until the late 1990's, because of the improvement in the water quality of Lake Erie.
http://seagrant.psu.edu/publications/fs/Mayfly_12-2003.pdf
I think it was when I read that they were using front loaders again to clean them up out in Port Clinton that they had really returned--a year or so later I was living in Sheffield Lake and able to experience it myself!
Do you or anyone you know the name of the hero serial that ran at the Palace theater on Sat. afternoon in the late 40s? I remember the hero rode on the front of some kind of a vheical and it was a weekly show.
ReplyDelete