DIY floatant
 

wrote

FWIW, Hydrophobe appears to be "the powder that must not be mentioned"
(based
upon my _quick_ Googling of "Hydrophobe mouche") and I'd imagine the
Tiemco
stuff is, as well. Whether it is or it isn't, if you weren't around for
one of
the "Frog's Fanny"/Cab-o-sil wars, and you really go through THAT much
floatant
and you want to save some real money, get some Cab-o-sil _HYDROPHOBIC_ or
other
fumed silica product.



thanks, I buy fumed hydrophobic silica by the quart here

http://www.epoxyproducts.com/f_mixin.html

a link that came out in the FF sub thread of a few years back ( think rw
posted it ) notice the page mentions the unexpected demand from FFers G


Hydrophobe is the trade name ( might be spelled a little different, I'm too
lazy to dig it out and check ) of a paste floatant from France, that I have
seen it only in Blue Ribbon Flies ... pricey as heck but will float a
quarter through a riffle ;-) comes in a tiny tube and you use very little
.... I like it so much I buy several at a time and start to get scared when I
get down to only a couple in stock ... I use far less than a tube/year


Dry Magic is a very new product that I have only seen at TroutHunter ... it
too is a 'paste' but not the least bit gooey .. put a dab on your fingers.
rub them together and it's like there is nothing there, no goo, no sticky,
no nothing ... now brush those fingers lightly over a CDC ( no it doesn't
paste the CDC to itself and ruin it ) fly and it will float great until you
catch a fish or encounter too much weed and gunk ... treat it, at that point
with FFanny and it works FAR better than the FF alone ( don't treat with FF
at first because it sticks to the otherwise impossible to detect 'Magic" and
you have to brush like hell to avoid fishing a white fly The Magic/FF
combo is the best CDC treatment I've found, to date .... the Hydrophobe the
best traditional hackled fly treatment ... gads I'm a fanatic, I sometimes
also carry one of the Ginklike gooey pastes while nymph fishing to goo up my
yarndicators


Larry L ( who watched a video on New Zealand last night and watched the
'star' squirt about a teaspoon of Gink on a Cicada pattern then rub it in,
the poor thing was damn near glued to itself in a glob when he finished,
especially the fibers of the wing .... I might do that to a yarnbobber but
to a fly ... no way ;-)

DIY floatant
 

"Dave LaCourse" wrote


I used four containers of FF last year. You can not beat it when it
comes to CDC flies, and it works better than any other powdered stuff,
including the bulk containers of the powder. I think, but am not
sure, that FF is not only a desicant, but it also has a floatant added
to it, because I have tried other commercial desicants and they do not
work nearly as well, especially on CDC.



I've run into several people that had gotten regular fumed silica or
something as a "desicant" and it sucks, actually attracting water unless you
get it all off the fly before fishing some more

The FF is "hydrophobic" and actually repels water ... try this to see if
you've got the right stuff

treat a fly, then hold it under water ... the good stuff will repel water to
the point that the fly will have bubbles of air around it, and stay that way
for a good long time ... an untreated fly will hold bubbles too, for a
while, as will one 'desicated' with the bad stuff ... it's how long the
bubbles last that is the key.

I'm sure most here in ROFFland know this, but try treating a nymph with FF
and fish it with weight near the bottom .. if you don't already know this
'secret' happy Valentines Day G

DIY floatant
 

On Fri, 13 Feb 2009 20:51:56 GMT, "Larry L" wrote:


wrote

FWIW, Hydrophobe appears to be "the powder that must not be mentioned"
(based
upon my _quick_ Googling of "Hydrophobe mouche") and I'd imagine the
Tiemco
stuff is, as well. Whether it is or it isn't, if you weren't around for
one of
the "Frog's Fanny"/Cab-o-sil wars, and you really go through THAT much
floatant
and you want to save some real money, get some Cab-o-sil _HYDROPHOBIC_ or
other
fumed silica product.



thanks, I buy fumed hydrophobic silica by the quart here

http://www.epoxyproducts.com/f_mixin.html

a link that came out in the FF sub thread of a few years back ( think rw
posted it ) notice the page mentions the unexpected demand from FFers G


Hydrophobe is the trade name ( might be spelled a little different, I'm too
lazy to dig it out and check ) of a paste floatant from France, that I have
seen it only in Blue Ribbon Flies ... pricey as heck but will float a
quarter through a riffle ;-) comes in a tiny tube and you use very little
... I like it so much I buy several at a time and start to get scared when I
get down to only a couple in stock ... I use far less than a tube/year

Uh-oh...I have potentially bad news. I searched for Hydrophobe, and it returned
Blue Ribbon, but the website doesn't show it as a current product.

IAC, that's when I added "mouche" and found a site that talked about it, but
showed a white powder in a bag marked "flotte mouches" ("fly floatant") and
something too small to read. Obviously, not that of which you are speaking.

Dry Magic is a very new product that I have only seen at TroutHunter ... it
too is a 'paste' but not the least bit gooey .. put a dab on your fingers.
rub them together and it's like there is nothing there, no goo, no sticky,
no nothing ... now brush those fingers lightly over a CDC ( no it doesn't
paste the CDC to itself and ruin it ) fly and it will float great until you
catch a fish or encounter too much weed and gunk ... treat it, at that point
with FFanny and it works FAR better than the FF alone ( don't treat with FF
at first because it sticks to the otherwise impossible to detect 'Magic" and
you have to brush like hell to avoid fishing a white fly The Magic/FF
combo is the best CDC treatment I've found, to date .... the Hydrophobe the
best traditional hackled fly treatment ... gads I'm a fanatic, I sometimes
also carry one of the Ginklike gooey pastes while nymph fishing to goo up my
yarndicators

Hmmm...have you tried mixing the FF/Cab-o-sil/fumed silica and _silicone_ oil? I
haven't - I know there are several DIY liquid/paste floatants that use it, but
??? Also, have you tried the "amadou" as Ken mentioned? If you didn't know,
it's just a fungus, and depending on where you travel, it can be found free and
naturally in some of the US (mainly on birch trees, IIRC). Do a Google search
for ID'ing info - try "amadou bracket fungus" or similar.

Larry L ( who watched a video on New Zealand last night and watched the
'star' squirt about a teaspoon of Gink on a Cicada pattern then rub it in,
the poor thing was damn near glued to itself in a glob when he finished,
especially the fibers of the wing .... I might do that to a yarnbobber but
to a fly ... no way ;-)

TC,
R

DIY floatant
 

On Fri, 13 Feb 2009 21:00:23 GMT, "Larry L"
wrote:

I'm sure most here in ROFFland know this, but try treating a nymph with FF
and fish it with weight near the bottom .. if you don't already know this
'secret' happy Valentines Day G

d;o) That's no secret - it's been discussed here before, many times.
And, it works very well, especialy on nymphs with a shaggy look to
them.

DIY floatant
 

wrote


Uh-oh...I have potentially bad news. I searched for Hydrophobe, and it
returned
Blue Ribbon, but the website doesn't show it as a current product.



The best outdoorsdude I ever met ( gone now for several years ) once told me
as we discussed fishing and hunting goodies, "If you find a product you
really like, but a lifetime supply. I don't know why, but they always stop
making the good stuff." I've had many occasions to be reminded of that,
as good products stopped being available.


I miss Jim, a lot, and remember him, ( and he was at least 70 at the
time),) grabbing his shot gun as we bounced down a dirt road, opening the
truck door, leaning way out at great risk of falling out, grabbing a single
shell from his vest and loading it into the Browning double barrel, then
cold cocking a Crow that was flying very high and in the opposite direction
from what we were driving .... all this much faster than I am typing it.
To my, "You crazy old fart you'll kill sombody." "yep, a crow," ( he
was stone cold sober, btw )

Larry L ( who doesn't want to encourage unsafe gun handling, but DOES want
to encourage a little 'crazy old fart' behavior from time to time ... life's
too frickin short to always be sane )

DIY floatant
 

"Larry L" wrote in message
...
The best outdoorsdude I ever met ( gone now for several years ) once told
me as we discussed fishing and hunting goodies, "If you find a product you
really like, but a lifetime supply.

that would explain my collection of Gherke's tying wax.
(which used to be Overton's wax, BTW)
Tom