On 26 Jul 2006 15:18:47 -0700, "Mark67" wrote:

I imagine that there were a number of well known recipes.
Anybody know what was in them?

I imagine someone a long time ago used paraffin or bees wax to help
float a dry, and maybe even whale oil or its by-products.

I believe that wet flies were more in favor than dries back in the
19th century, so a floatant wouldn't be necessary. You seldom see
someone using a wet fly nowadays, but when I was a kid, they were very
popular, and no, I'm not *that* old. I still use them and fish them
like a nymph.

Dave