old-time floatant(?)

----- 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

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

"Kevin Vang" wrote in message
t...
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?

Yeah, I get some of those too......but they're a bitch to land on light
tippet.

Wolfgang
who figures the evidence suggests that watching his backcast is somebody
else's problem.

Wolfgang wrote:

"Mark67" wrote in message
oups.com...

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.

Some folks also recommend using the natural oils from alongside your
nose when burnishing a card scraper (to keep it from galling).


Chuck Vance (hey, we have been talking about woodworking, haven't
we?)

On 7/26/06 4:34 PM, in article
, "Mark67"
wrote:

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)?

One thing to keep in mind about using the "finger 'longside the nose or
forehead" trick, is that if you applied sunscreen or bug dope earlier in the
day, you can be sure that the scent of either (or both!) is going to sully
your fly. So be careful from whence you gather your bodily oils!

I just had a gander in Bergman's classic "Trout", first published in 1938.
In the section on dry flies, he describes a home-brew dry fly goo involving
paraffin wax and gasoline (!).

Bill

"William Claspy" wrote in message
...
On 7/26/06 4:34 PM, in article
, "Mark67"
wrote:

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)?

One thing to keep in mind about using the "finger 'longside the nose or
forehead" trick, is that if you applied sunscreen or bug dope earlier in
the
day, you can be sure that the scent of either (or both!) is going to sully
your fly. So be careful from whence you gather your bodily oils!

I just had a gander in Bergman's classic "Trout", first published in 1938.
In the section on dry flies, he describes a home-brew dry fly goo
involving
paraffin wax and gasoline (!).

Bill


That use to be a common way to watterproof a tent. The gasoline was just to
the paraffin into the cotton canvas. After the gasoline evaporated the
tent went from being a two minute fire to a 30 second fire. A tolorable
risk I suppose if your camping in the days before coated nylon and goretex.

"BJConner" wrote in message
news:dgqyg.25$zV6.1@trnddc03...

"William Claspy" wrote in message
...
!

I just had a gander in Bergman's classic "Trout", first published in
1938.
In the section on dry flies, he describes a home-brew dry fly goo
involving
paraffin wax and gasoline (!).

Bill


That use to be a common way to watterproof a tent. The gasoline was just
to the paraffin into the cotton canvas. After the gasoline evaporated
the tent went from being a two minute fire to a 30 second fire. A
tolorable risk I suppose if your camping in the days before coated nylon
and goretex.

Not sure if any of you ride motorcycles, talking about the British ones in
the 50s/60's/70's and remember
the waxedcotton Belstaff Jackets of England...yes the black ones. Gosh do I
miss my BSA Goldstar.
-tom

"Tom Nakashima" wrote

Not sure if any of you ride motorcycles, talking about the British ones in
the 50s/60's/70's and remember
the waxedcotton Belstaff Jackets of England...yes the black ones. Gosh do
I miss my BSA Goldstar.
-tom

i still have a shredded, shrunken old barbour jacket; black, belted,
with bike makers' patches. i wore it for several years during the mid and
late '70's in enduros and cross country dirt bike races.
most fun i've ever had.

yfitons
wayno(yamaha, penton, ktm, bultaco)

"Wayne Harrison" wrote in message
m...

"Tom Nakashima" wrote

Not sure if any of you ride motorcycles, talking about the British ones
in the 50s/60's/70's and remember
the waxedcotton Belstaff Jackets of England...yes the black ones. Gosh
do I miss my BSA Goldstar.
-tom

i still have a shredded, shrunken old barbour jacket; black, belted,
with bike makers' patches. i wore it for several years during the mid and
late '70's in enduros and cross country dirt bike races.
most fun i've ever had.

yfitons
wayno(yamaha, penton, ktm, bultaco)


Wayne, I also went through two Yamaha SR500 singles, always wanted the XT,
or the TT. I made the mistake of washing my Belstaff jacket after 5 years,
and when I took it out of the washing machine it fell apart.
I'm sure you remember Kenny Roberts.
-tom