Flying Ants???

My wife & I went out on our tandem island this afternoon out of Bayport on the nature coast of Florida. We were having a nice day of sailing & fishing, when all the sudden the wind died and we were attacked by a swarm of what appeared to be flying ants. STINGING flying ants! They were all over us, my wife was in a full blown panic attack, and they were stinging us like h***! At the same moment a Jack Crevelle hit the lure i was fishing with. So, now i'm trying to fight off the ants, peddle out of there, calm down my hysterical wife, and reel in this fish....not a pretty picture. I can't get her to stop peddling long enough to get my fish in, the fish got dragged all the way back to the dock.
We spoke to some other people who had the same experience fishing today. I'm used to the no-see-ums but this is a whole new ballgame....Does ANYONE know what these evil little nasty creatures were? They look like crawling black ants but with a couple of small wings. Also, we were NOT near land or any mangroves, we were in the middle of the gulf where we normally feel safe from insect attacks....never had this happen before. I think i will have to figure this out before wifey sticks her toe back into the water...