Hide, they're notorious down here, too, and get worse each year.....I absolutely loathe, wearing insect repellants, so I've had to resort to wearing one of those nerdy-looking head nets, while I'm fishing.....I've found that Germ-X works just as good as insect repellants, and not nearly as messy on your skin or eyeglasses.
A couple of my buddies are allergic to buff gnat bites, and the bite sites swell up really bad.....one buddy's face swelled so bad that he had to go to the ER for a steroid shot.