MT,

Many years ago, a friend of mine employed your method of using the paddle to keep flies at bay. The unfortunate outcome was that some of the flies were getting through this defence and one started biting him on the back of his head. Without a thought, he swated the fly with his paddle. The unfortunate outcome was that he knocked his glasses off into the drink. This was at the top of Curtain Falls. Since then, I use a strap for my glasses.

My post was not autobiographical, it really happened, many years before the concept of 'pack extenders'. And who in their right mind could concieve of 'pack extenders'?

No one in there right mind would think of pack extenders.

Most of the flies try to bite on the head.  A wide brimmed hat with permethrin on top really cuts down on the bites. I was in the canoe with Kingfisher.  He was wearing a base ball hat and I had a wide brimmed hat on.  I did not even know the flyes were a problem and he was bleeding on his nick where they had bitten him. He said there was many circling my head and they would land on top of my hat but I never got a bight.  Does not work for ankle biters.
MagicPaddler 

Amen to that bro,
Old Salt said he found that sunscreen worked. I posted another tip about using mesh pants recently. They are such a priority with me that they are in the same bag as my raingear, first aid kit and headlight. Pop those puppy's on and bye-bye fly. They are quite comfy too. Same material they make mosquito mesh from. Add a green shirt to the green mesh pants and you become more or less invisible. (sometimes more...sometimes less) 

IC
The mesh pants are absolutely useless against mosquitoes but work great with flies. Where ever the mesh lays against your skin it is very easy for the skeets to find a gap in the mesh to poke you.

Here is how I found out   : I went into Glacier solo and a bit nervous especially after having done extensive research on old Mr. Griz. Both authors suggested not using bug spray or smelly soaps etc. so I went to Cabelas and purchased a "bug suit". (Now it was nothing like the highly endorsed "original bug shirt" which actually is a real fortress). This was just a mesh top and bottom.

The first night in I made it to fishless lake Poi (something like that....out of Many Glacier/Swiftcurrent). The next morning there were hordes of the little beasties and I smiled as I put my little suit on. Unfortunately it was little better than nothing and they tore me up for the hour or 2 it took me to get out. Boy was I mad.

Later that afternoon while setting up I got deluged by flies and was a little unsettled about not having any spray for a week but then I remembered the mesh pants. Bingo, fly problem solved. I still have the original pair a decade later.

I will also never forget the look of enchantment on a young gals face when she stopped me on the Wonderland Trail and asked me in a halting and smiling way....."Are...... are those bug pants"? Of course I couldn't help but stand a little straighter and puff out my chest just a bit   "why yes, yes they are". I could tell, as she walked away with a dreamy look in her eye, that she was envisioning her own bug pants  .