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3. Spraying Flies????

I recently overheard a conversation in the Fly Shop at Cabela's whereas a guy was talking about "spraying his flies" with something so they would not become waterlogged.

What is this all about???

Keystoner,

Dry-Fly guys have a million-and-one ways to help their flies float and not become water logged. Some guys carry something like Gink and treat their flies while on the stream others actually treat them with something right at the tying table. It would be a good thread, if it hasn't already happened, to ask everyone here what their favorite floatant is or what they do to help their artificials float like a cork.

Some of the old farts carry a fungal patch of Amadou on their vest to pat dry their flies after a few casts to spring them back to life. Others have little containers of silica and powder them up after a fish slimes them up...Etc.

You may end up with more info than you bargained for here with this question so I'm just going to let them rip...Get out your pad of paper and a good writing tool...

Take Care!

Spence

Their is a product out their called Water Shed, your fly is dipped in product and allowed to dry. ( works good) Any silicon product will work pretty good also.

Best

JAD

i apply watershed on all my hackled dries and also on the float pod of floating nymphs at the bench. on the stream for these flies and synthetic no-hackle flies i use a silicon paste.
for cdc flies i use preen oil again at the bench and a chamois rag on the stream. when they get really wet i will then use a powder (frog's fanny).

Amadou's for old farts? That's my favorite way to dry out a slimed fly.

Jason,

You got it wrong...I use Amadou to dry out my old farts...

A friend of mine and I were sitting on a bank somewhere and he farted...He then came up with the idea of some sort of odor eater that would hang down from the rim of your waders and eleviate the aroma of wader farts...This is patented by-the-way so don't get any ideas!

Spence old-fart extraordinaire!

I've heard of spraying flies with Scotchguard, but read the label before you do this; the stuff's full of some nasty chemicals. Gutcutter has the ticket as far as I'm concerned, though I use both amadou and chamois. Some amadou can go flat if you get it soaked in a downpour; chamois (actually I use tanned deerskin, but it's close) is very tough and absorbs water just about as well. I recently designed a sleeve that covers my amadou patch--which is on a zinger--to keep it dry in a heavy rain. We'll see how it works come baetis time.

Keystoner,
I like a product called Frogs Fanny. It is a powder that you work into the fly once it becomes wet. Really good stuff. But the best part is you can get the same stuff in bulk and for 1/10th the cost a lifetime supply.
I don't remember the web site but I'm pretty sure Louis has it in his encyclopedic memory.
JW

I agree, Frogs Fanny is some good stuff, but, I have found that repeated use, on dark flies, lightens the color because of build up of the powder.

Looking for a cheap substitute

click here

And click on it’s called fletch dry.

if you can find it, try Fly Sauce. put it on a clean, dry fly, wave it about to dry it off, and you're good for hours. after you rinse the fish slime off in the water, you can pop the thing into a jar of white powder and shake it off, but you probably won't have to--just rinse and false cast and away you go.

it's better than Gink in the winter because it doesn't get thick, and better in the summer because it doesn't get thin.

I can produce a source for generic fly drying powder on demand. PM me if you're interested. It's called hydrophobic fumed silica, and it works as good as the name brand product. JAD originally gave me the source, so he should get the credit.

Fly Sauce . . . sounds worth trying. Do you have a source, Casey?

Fly Sauce
Isn't that the stuff you keep in you little silver flask and dring from a tin cup after a great day of fishing or perhaps to work up the needed heat for a day like today?

Falsifly,
I don't usually have the problem with my dark flies as it is rare that I keep my casts out of the vegetation long enough for it to happen.

Keystoner,
The Lil Lehigh will fish reasonably well if the air temp bumps over 20*. The bonus is the crowds usually wait until the air temps bump over 30-35. ;)

JW

Hi All
I still have snow if any body wants some. Ive been waiting for somebody to post one of the oldest of dry fly formulas and IMHO one of the best, In the book of Trout by Ray Bergman ( page 181) a formula of white gas an paraffin is listed for floating flies. For standard Dry flies and comparaduns it is one of the best cleaners and floatants I ever used,I often use it on new flies instead of Water shed and it is very inexpensive . Now for the Green people on the board I believe after the gasoline evaporates, I believe the formula is environment friendly.

DISCLAIMER: One should not find this reply to be overly authoritative, highly assertive or more than a little offensive as the following statements are supported by the depth of time, research and extensive personal experience necessary for a well-reasoned, nonconfrontational discussion on the topic

JAD

Thank you John, but we have an elegant sufficiency down here. Any more would be a superfluity.

Thank you Louis, I did a little research on hydrophobic fumed silica, and found that it is a thixotropic additive used in epoxy. I use epoxy on a regular basis in my business, and have six different thixotropic additives in stock. I went to the shelf to check it out, and by golly there it is. Now I can write off part of my fly fishing expense as a business deduction. I’m definitely going to start using more of it. I hope none of you are with the IRS.

He who has never hoped can never despair.
George Bernard Shaw

When I first started fly-fishing (some 25 or so years ago), the older guy who taught me the ropes had me start using the gasoline/parrafin mixture, and it's all I knew to use for years.

Nowadays I hardly ever fish dries (who am I kidding - I hardly FISH, period) so I can't add much information with regard to any of the more "modern" products out there. I do have a small container of some kind of floatant "paste" that somebody on the stream gave me years ago - on the rare occasions that I do find myself fishing for trout (and on the ever rarer occasions where I do so with a dry fly) that stuff seems to work pretty well - and it hardly takes up any space in the vest, which is also nice.

If I remember, one of these days I'll dig my vest out of storage and see what that stuff is called.

Hi All

AS Louis would say ,Not to be superfluity but I have one more thing to say about that. Most all you would want to know about floatants is here. ---http://www.drlogik.com/flyfloatants.html




DISCLAIMER: One should not find this reply to be overly authoritative, highly assertive or more than a little offensive as the following statements are supported by the depth of time, research and extensive personal experience necessary for a well-reasoned, nonconfrontational discussion on the topic
Best

JAD

Flatstick,

You reminded me of a "homemade" floatant story with your gasoline/parrafin...tale. (Be careful lighting your stoogies!)

In the town of Lovells on the N Branch of the Au Sable in Michigan there was a little square hut like structure where a guy named Bill Korneke sold flies. It was worth stopping in there just for the chance to experience Bill...Or "Old Man Korneke" as we used to call him.

Back in the 90's some time he passed away, was cremated, and his ashes skattered in Big Creek. A guide friend of mine bought out, at an estate sale...(If we can call it that)...what was left of Bill's secret fly floatant.

We are not too sure but we think the main ingredient was Dry Cleaning chemicals of some sort...Inhaling this stuff most of his life in that small hut may of contributed a bit to the odder side to Bill's personality...And may have explained the odd aroma in the place.

I think my friend informed me last year on a float that he had used the last of it and we were on our own from now on...Other than the toxic side of it...once treated your fly floated like a cork!

R.I.P Bill K! Lovell's is missing a bit of it's charm since you left!

Spence

You know your flotant's a bit too strong when you see a nice fish nose up under your fly and sneezes as he follows it downstream instead of swallowing it!

Thanks for all the info.

I didn't even realize this was an issue. But, I sure was puzzled when my fly floated down to the water, sat there a minute and then slowly sank.

In case anyone is still looking here is the link for the aforementioned "fly sauce".

http://www.anglingevolutions.com/prod_flysauce.html