Mike wrote:

If the flies are treated with a decent floatant, and have decent
hackles etc,then they float well enough. I can't say I noticed any
difference between waxed and unwaxed in this regard. Latterly I always
used unwaxed anyway. I have not tested it, but I would expect the
waxed stuff to float better initially at least, as it is simply more
waterproof.

That was my expectation as well.

The main problem with colouring the waxed stuff is that quite a few
floatants just dissolve the colour off it. If you use liquid "dip"
type floatants, this can cause other problems as well, When you dip
other flies in it, they get coloured by it! The colour does not
actually soak in to the waxed stuff, as you have noticed, it just
colours the wax on the surface.

Got it. I pre-treat my flies with Watershed, and while it didn't
seem to dissolve any of the color, it did alter it a bit. (In a good
way, as it turned out, as it made the yellow look more like a
"sulphur" yellow, which is what I was after.)

I'll test them on the water as soon as I get a chance to see how
they float, and how they react to Frog's Fanny, which is the only
onstream "floatant" I use.

Thanks for all the links you provided as well. I've been searching
some myself, but that made it a lot easier for me.


Chuck Vance