I hear you Rich not as bad is a relative term. Most years mowing the back 40 there would literally be 50 of them around your head. This year only 20 or 30.  Like you said 100% deet is like crack to them. I have found certain colors attract them more. Blues are the worst especially the color of a Mets hat.

Deer flies are something I'm used to up in the adk's .
I experienced the green head flies on the coat while vacationing along the beaches . Last year was my first experience with them out on the Great Lake and couldn't believe they were way out there.
Last week they were not, this past weekend they were in force. They don't buzz around, they just go right for the flesh right away. They suck and I need to find a solution. Don't think colors are a matter to them but when we got wet, they flocked in pretty much on force .
Suggestions welcome

Avon skin-so-soft works extremely well.  Deet and Citronella don't repel them at all.  We have a bottle  for each vehicle.

fichy
Avon skin-so-soft works extremely well.  Deet and Citronella don't repel them at all.  We have a bottle  for each vehicle.

Charlie,does that Avon product work on the skeeters also,and where can you purchase it?

I'm sure Charlie will respond but we tried it way back in the early 80's for an alternative to the down right nasty stuff call old pal woodsman and fly dope . That stuff worked great but would ruin anything it came in contact with . As for the Avon I can't recall how well it worked but do remember it smelled mighty nice .
Gonna have to give it a try again as well .

Jack, the Avon product doesn't repel skeeters and blackflies at all, only the greenheads.
Cutter makes a product called skintastic that is a mix of DEET and some of the elements of skin so soft. It works fairly well when there is a mix of critters and doesn't smell like a chemical plant.  DEET is very corrosive on plastic and some materials. Do Not get it on your fly lines or waders! (Gore-Tex is OK)  I got a severe chemical  burn spraying Deet on my hands at high altitude in the Sierra wilderness. I walk with my  trekking pole straps  wrapped over the top of my hand and when I put them down and the sun hit where they had covered , my hands exploded into pain as if they were getting hit with a torch! It was a pretty miserable 2 days back to a trailhead to get out and get some cortisone. I left some lakes filled with nice size goldens, too. SUCKED!  Never cover Deet up with clothes. If you put on long sleeves, wash your arms of any you've applied. I use to grow Pennyroyal, which is in the mint family as a natural repellant. It helps, but doen't work 100% like DEET.
   RJ, I'm not convinced those flies on the lake are the same species, but I don't doubt they are similar. If the skin so soft works it'd be great. Tony might know where an Avon dealer is around you. If she doesn't- I have a huge bottle-I'll send you some.

fichy
Jack, the Avon product doesn't repel skeeters and blackflies at all, only the greenheads.
Cutter makes a product called skintastic that is a mix of DEET and some of the elements of skin so soft. It works fairly well when there is a mix of critters and doesn't smell like a chemical plant.  DEET is very corrosive on plastic and some materials. Do Not get it on your fly lines or waders! (Gore-Tex is OK)  I got a severe chemical  burn spraying Deet on my hands at high altitude in the Sierra wilderness. I walk with my  trekking pole straps  wrapped over the top of my hand and when I put them down and the sun hit where they had covered , my hands exploded into pain as if they were getting hit with a torch! It was a pretty miserable 2 days back to a trailhead to get out and get some cortisone. I left some lakes filled with nice size goldens, too. SUCKED!  Never cover Deet up with clothes. If you put on long sleeves, wash your arms of any you've applied. I use to grow Pennyroyal, which is in the mint family as a natural repellant. It helps, but doen't work 100% like DEET.
   RJ, I'm not convinced those flies on the lake are the same species, but I don't doubt they are similar. If the skin so soft works it'd be great. Tony might know where an Avon dealer is around you. If she doesn't- I have a huge bottle-I'll send you some.

Good words Charlie. I try o never spray the deet on my skin if possible, just my hat or clothes. SSS does work.

A couple of decades ago I was fishing the Ausable during black fly season with a buddy from work.  I was using Cutter's and he was using Skin So Soft. The Cutter's kept the little buggers away while my friend was bit to heck.  The collar of his shirt was soaked with blood from the relentless onslaught.  The next day he broke down and purchased some Cutter's and the trip was saved.  Nothing worse than getting eaten alive by those blood thirsty savages.     

Thanks guys for the responses .. I'm gonna try Skin so soft.. As TB eluded to , I recall it didn't work as well on black flies as that deadly fly dope.. She (Toni) was an Avon seller back then, we used it on the kids and our first love (pup) Casidy.. Why not try it for the lake on the green heads, sure beats the slippery natural stuff we used last week with no results..
I asked on another forum about the lake and yes, its just not my stinky boat that attracts them.. Some calle them stable flies.. Wikki says they are ankle bitters which is what I call them aside from other names.. So now we have identified them and hopefully come up with a plan,, If the fish are hitting (Oswego pro-am this weekend, not me) then who cares.. If the fishing is slow then, go fast seems to be effective...
Great weather ahead and looking towards good times.. Report to follow..
 
Ps.
Waterskies, ahh.. The tube for lazy folks is on board this weekend :) 

If the fish aren't hitting, and you are going to go fast, drop some streamers or mooselicks out in the wake, 10-20 feet behind the boat,  I would never have believed in this technique had it not been suggested by Francis Betters, and it has payed off in spades while traveling from point a to point b in 'daks lakes on both rainbows and landlocks.  Twice in the few times I've gone out offshore on the big pond, I've had the line torn out of my hand by surface wake thrashers while trying to set the rubber band on a slider rig.  Both the bows and the atlantics like a faster speed, and I've had hits right up top just shy of planning.  My son's best landlock (22") soaked me jumping right at the back of the boat, it hit so close to the boat.
 
When my wife and I first went to the Ausable area, everyone said Skin So Soft for black flies, and it is my experience that in cooler weather it works great at repelling them. Except there are not usually a lot of Black flies in cooler weather.  The drawback with SSS is keeping it on; as soon as you start to perspire it comes off with the sweat, and if you are fishing, you don't notice the lack until you are half bled out.  DEET sticks , but I always feel like I'm wearing a plastic bag, and as Fichy says, it will make mincemeat out of a flyline coating, or anything else plastic. 
 
I recently bought a thermacell, but never got a chance to get up north to try it, and by the time I get going 8/1, black flies should be history. Device uses butane to heat a plate on which is  placed a pad impregnated with some kind of repellent.  Friends tell me it provides a 15 foot area of skeeter or black fly free space, said it was essential for spring turkey, but also reported that the northern Ontario Black flies didn't even notice it.  My experience with Quebec black flies was take up corncob piping and aromatic tobacco, the cheaper the better.  The locals used an old pump sprayer filled with Old woodsman mixed with white gas, definitely felt covered in Saran wrap after that.  And ramps rubbed over all exposed skin works good, but you'll get thrown in the lake when you return if you are staying in a crowded campground, and if you are camping without access to showers, your spouse may make you buy a seperate tent.