old-time floatant(?)

Hi Folks,

Been reading the posts about different commercial floatants, and it
reminded me of a technique I picked up in my days as a young buck
flyfisherman (I was 17 or so). Wondered if anyone else had heard of
it.

Back in those days (1980s) I had some type of silicon-based floatant in
my vest that I used fairly regularly. But often as not I would just
dab my finger on my forehead or nose and use that natural oil/grease to
dress my fly. Quicker and easier than digging out the synthetic stuff.
Anybody ever heard of this? I can't remember if I read it in a fly
fishing mag, or if it was something that my grandfather (a master with
rod, leader, and fly) used to do.

I learned in a video about flyfishing in PA recently that trout have an
advanced sense of smell, or that they can detect odors/chemicals in the
water, and that comes into play with food selection. Are floatants
odorless? And, I wonder, was my homegrown method stinking up the fly
with odors (most likely pizza and beer at that time)?

Mark67

"Mark67" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi Folks,

Been reading the posts about different commercial floatants, and it
reminded me of a technique I picked up in my days as a young buck
flyfisherman (I was 17 or so). Wondered if anyone else had heard of
it.

Back in those days (1980s) I had some type of silicon-based floatant in
my vest that I used fairly regularly. But often as not I would just
dab my finger on my forehead or nose and use that natural oil/grease to
dress my fly. Quicker and easier than digging out the synthetic stuff.
Anybody ever heard of this? I can't remember if I read it in a fly
fishing mag, or if it was something that my grandfather (a master with
rod, leader, and fly) used to do.

Never heard of using that method for floating flies, but it used to be
commonly recommended for lubricating ferrules. Modern composite ferrules
don't need lubrication and doing this just gives dust and dirt something to
stick to. The salt excreted in sweat will corrode metal ferrules.

As for waterproofing flies, I suspect it's just about useless. Natural skin
oils aren't viscous or stable enough......know anybody who repels water?


I learned in a video about flyfishing in PA recently that trout have an
advanced sense of smell, or that they can detect odors/chemicals in the
water, and that comes into play with food selection. Are floatants
odorless? And, I wonder, was my homegrown method stinking up the fly
with odors (most likely pizza and beer at that time)?

Trout certainly do have a sense of smell. How acute it is is a matter of
some debate. Whether or not it matters to fly fishers is often hotly
debated. Personally, I've never paid any attention to the matter of smell
out in the stream. I catch my share of fish.

Wolfgang

Never heard of using that method for floating flies, but it used to be
commonly recommended for lubricating ferrules. Modern composite
ferrules
don't need lubrication and doing this just gives dust and dirt
something to
stick to. The salt excreted in sweat will corrode metal ferrules.

As for waterproofing flies, I suspect it's just about useless. Natural
skin
oils aren't viscous or stable enough......know anybody who repels
water?


You know, I didn't even think about the salt content. Bad stuff all
around. And indeed, human oil is pretty wimpy stuff come to think of
it. Hmmm... Guess that was one of the many odd greenhorn tactics
that contributed to a low success rate in those early years on the
river. The dry flies were most certainly too much underwater. Ah,
youth.

But what fish in its right mind (brain stem?) would turn down something
that smelled like Bud and pepperoni? That's what I'd like to know.
I'm sure I already know the answer.

Say, are there resources on the web, or books, or just folklore out
there about pre-synthetic fly dressing substances in the 19th or 20th
centuries? I imagine that there were a number of well known recipes.
Anybody know what was in them?

Thanks, Wolfgang.

Mark67

I'm using up my rather large supply of Gink/Albolene. I treat the new
fly out of the box. It can't hurt (unless its a CDC pattern, in which
case it's a disaster). After that, I use Frog's Fanny/Cabosil TS720
(treated, hydrophobic fumed silica). Gink and its imitators don't work
when the fly is wet, and especially not when the fly is soaked with fish
slime. I wash off a slimed fly and treat it with copious amounts of
"Frog's Fanny." It floats to beat all get out.

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

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

Dave LaCourse wrote:

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.

Classic "wet flies" are supposed to represent drowned mayflies. In fact,
trout probably take them as not-very-good nymph imitations. Modern day
"nymphs" are a vast improvement, imitating things that fish actually eat.

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

You seldom see someone using a wet fly nowadays, but.... I still use them and fish them
like a nymph.

Dave

Dave, I worked as a "controller" at the one-fly tournament on Spruce
Creek this spring. On the first day, a woman on the beat next to mine
caught five trout on a wet soft-hackle sulfur. The second day, she
caught five trout in one hour on my beat, using the same fly.

Her team, which she led in points, came in about fourth in the
tournament, out of about 75 teams.

Obviously she knew what she was doing.

vince

"vincent p. norris" wrote

Obviously she knew what she was doing.


or, more likely, the trout didn't.

yfitons
wayno

In article , says...
Personally, I've never paid any attention to the matter of smell
out in the stream. I catch my share of fish.


Well, sure, you might ... but what about the guy fishing downstream
from you?

Kevin

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave LaCourse"
Newsgroups: rec.outdoors.fishing.fly
Sent: Wednesday, July 26, 2006 7:43 PM
Subject: old-time floatant(?)


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



I'm surprised to hear many don't still use Wets....it represents a bug of
whatever sort hatching into the open water. A stage which can be fished
exclusively very successfully. You may have heard that a nymph can be a
good fly to use prior to a big evening hatch (or any time of the day really)
of emerging duns. The wet fly represents the first step of their emergence
and can also be very effective at this time.

And...because the nymphs begin to move around just before emergence, fishing
the wet like a nymph can be very productive also as they begin to bulge and
shed their old existence.

Tom was pleasantly surprised one year when I fished his March Brown Emerger
as a nymph with much success. Worked with the same concept really, the fish
usually took the fly on the swing off of the bottom.

The last note about wets is it is a great fly to learn fly fishing on. Of
course for those of use fortunate to be around water with productive
hatches, but it pretty simple to chuck the fly across the water, and
upstream, working the swing.

I've heard from some that this is very productive with soft hackles also.

Mike