thoughts on floatant

[spiralspey 0]

Well, the frogs fanny bottle has found a quiet little corner to hide in my little chest pack. Maybe I'll leave it in there and pull it out a time or two in the near future and give it a try more often. I am primarily a dry fly guy and also a minimalist, and I try and only carry things I use regularly, so we'll see.

[mikechell 0]

Okay ... finally going to have some photographic and video evidence.

I treated these flies today ...

 

... with this aerosol.

 

I've tried it before, and I believe it works, but what I sprayed then were basically floaters anyway. Hopefully, tomorrow morning, I'll be able to show that it works.

The flies in the above picture were sprayed heavily ... to be sure the spray soaked in. They'll dry overnight.

 

 

[colotyer 0]

You can get the dry fly magic holder from kafly.net

[mikechell 0]

Okay, people, forget the "Just Repel It" spray. First full cast and the feathers/fur/synthetic material was soaked with water.

The stuff did a pretty good job of floating my fly lines ... but it did nothing to keep my flies from soaking up water.

I don't think I'll even try it on boots or gloves.

[tjm 0]

Gink, Aquel, Muclin, lip balm and Albolene all repel water, couple that with good hackle and I think flies should float for a while,. Silver Creek provided outstanding explanations of why and how.

 

CampDri will water proof a coat or hat and should work fine on flies, but for me the cost would be prohibitive.

 

For carrying bottles or such, take piece of fly line (or shoe string, or..) and tape it or whip finish it to the bottle leaving a loop that can attach to a snap on your lanyard or to zinger. Loop can be any length and bottle can be either end up.

[afraid not 0]

One of the real problems I have had after making the Gink described by Ray Bergman, is evaporation. After a few months the paraffin is all gooped in the bottle and the naptha has evaporated. BTW I am using tightly sealed sealed Nalgene bottles to store the Gink. It will also solidify if temperatures get much below 50 degrees.

[Father Sergius 0]

Okay ... finally going to have some photographic and video evidence.

I treated these flies today ...

Just Repel It treated flies.jpg

 

... with this aerosol.

Just Repel It.jpg

 

I've tried it before, and I believe it works, but what I sprayed then were basically floaters anyway. Hopefully, tomorrow morning, I'll be able to show that it works.

The flies in the above picture were sprayed heavily ... to be sure the spray soaked in. They'll dry overnight.

 

What's that green weenie fly with a tail?

[mikechell 0]

Just some mop flies I tied up, Sergius. I posted some better pictures of them on the "February Flies form the Vise" thread.

[goofnoff 0]

I used the combination of Cortland Dry-R-Fly and Gink for years and they worked very well.

 

Then I tried Loon desiccant and liked it better than the Cortland.

 

Currently, I use Orvis Shake-n-Float.

 

Lot of things recommended here I never thought of. I'm going to try some of them.

[C Crawford 0]

+1 on the Albolene

 

I thought that it was just a little thicker than Gink. Anyway, I like it because it doesn't usually melt 'til you rub it between your fingertips and so that when the fly lands on the water you don't get an oil slick

[chugbug27 0]

Tiemco dry magic is great streamside. It's on the expensive side ($12-15 a bottle). But a little goes a long way with it, works on CDC, floats nice, and it dries fast. The bottle cap also is secure. I've liked but been frustrated with shimikaze, both powder and wet. Same with Loon's shake. I've had the powder top pop open in my vest, several times, and the liquid dried up while closed and in storage for a month or two. Loon doesn't last me more than a few months. The tiemco dry magic applies like gink but is much cleaner feeling and longer lasting on the water and works really well on cdc, and has never leaked or dried up on me. I know that the powders supposedly are great for giving an air bubble effect on emergers, but I haven't found that actually to be helpful.

[Philly 0]

Mike, I've been toying with floating mop flies too. I picked up a bottle of loon Hydrostop at a local fly shop on Sunday. I dipped a mop piece in it Monday afternoon let it dry over night then dropped it in a small glass of water yesterday afternoon. It floated like a cork, this morning half of it was still above water. Just checked it a little while ago and it had sunk to the bottom of the glass. Figure when I'm casting it should said any water that it picks up so it should continue to float. If you're using craft foam you can treat it with liquid floatant and it will absorb it since it's not a closed cell foam. Helps the head float higher in the surface film.

 

Sergius asked What's that green weenie fly with a tail? If you can find a car wash mitt with what I call mini-mop pieces in chartreuse, I picked up mine in an auto store, they make a mean green rock worm pupae, known in PA as the Green Weenie. If you attach a green foam head, like Mike did, they become a green inch worm.

[Nick94 0]

Personally I use mucilin floatant, works great, just a small dab to the underside of a fly, reapply whenever. I also use it on my furled leaders, so it's multipurpose in that sense.

[afraid not 0]

I will add that when I tie dry flies I use as much synthetic material as I can. That is because most synthetics will not absorb water, or at least very little, compared to natural fibers. Synthetic materials and Aquel, with a Shimkazie shake (when necessary) is my preferred solution, right now.

[vicente 0]

Wondering has anyone tried something similar to this on deer hair or craft foam to help keep them from absorbing water? If not I'll give it a try and report back.