FFR 2006: RAGE All Natural Insect Repellent

There were a few items at the FFR show last week that weren’t designed specifically for fly fishers (we’ve already mentioned the Frogg Togg’s towel) but nonetheless may prove exciting just because they fit an existing need. I’ve always had questions about the safety of DEET-based insect repellents and of course everyone knows what DEET can do to any kind of plastic, including the plastic coating of fly lines. So I grabbed a bottle of RAGE insect repellent from their booth, got the demo, and came away impressed by the notion that a repellent with all-natural ingredients — citronella, lemon grass and juniper berry — might do the job. We haven’t had a chance to test the repellent — that will probably happen later today in the Official MidCurrent Bug Repellent Test Laboratory (otherwise known as our Florida backyard) — but like the chances of this stuff being effective. Beyond having ingredients that have shown effectiveness in research — citronella and lemon grass — RAGE says their patented secret is the juniper berry. And the “inert ingredients” in their lotion are almond oil and vitamin E, an emollient and anti-oxidant respectively. The stuff even smells pretty good, like you just rubbed up against a pine tree.