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 ;-)