old-time floatant(?)

On Wed, 26 Jul 2006 20:58:41 -0400, vincent p. norris
wrote:

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

Although she fished dries more often, my mother preferred wets, and if
there wasn't a hatch on, that would be the first fly she'd use. I
don't remember nymphs in those days, but she fished a wet similar to
the way you would fish a nymph today.

When Joanne and I were clearing her home after her death 11 years ago,
we found two Wheatley fly boxes. One was full of dries, and the other
had wet flies she had tied. When I took one out, it fell apart in my
hand. My grandsons now have them displayed in their mother's china
cabinet.

Dave

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?)

"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.

On 7/26/06 8:58 PM, in article ,
"vincent p. norris" wrote:

one-fly tournament

snip

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

snip

Ick.

Bill

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

rw wrote:

BTW, I don't recommend snorting Frog's Fanny.



Speaking from experience?



They used to use carbon tetrachloride as a solvent for the wax which is
where the danger was that George referred to.

Willi

Willi wrote:
rw wrote:


BTW, I don't recommend snorting Frog's Fanny.



Speaking from experience?

Nope.

They used to use carbon tetrachloride as a solvent for the wax which is
where the danger was that George referred to.

Right. My recollection was faulty. Carbon tetrachloride is nasty stuff.

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

On 7/27/06 12:58 PM, in article
, "rw"
wrote:

Willi wrote:
rw wrote:


BTW, I don't recommend snorting Frog's Fanny.



Speaking from experience?

Nope.

They used to use carbon tetrachloride as a solvent for the wax which is
where the danger was that George referred to.

Right. My recollection was faulty. Carbon tetrachloride is nasty stuff.

And Bergman mentions it in his book as a substitute for using gasoline,
along with ether or benzine.

I suppose that while I enjoy reading the old guys, some caution should be
used when following any recipes involving chemicals!

I also read through a short bit of the section on dry fly sizes. He talks
about fishing the Firehole and being told to use "small flies". He has a
hard time finding anything small in his boxes, small being 16 or 18!

Bill

Ick.

I fear I'm too dense to figure out what you mean by "Ick," Bill, but
if you're registering your distaste for "tournaments," I should add
that this tournament made about $50,000 for the local Youth Service
Bureau, which helps kids who need it.

This was its tenth year and all told, it has made something like
$300,000 for that charity.

vince

Wondering if WD-40 and paraffin wax might work?
Scotch Guard?

If you can buy Cavalier brand silicone liquid shoe waterproofer, in a
four ounce bottle with dauber, it's a great fly floatant. I used it
for years, applying it with a small camels-hair brush to the parts of
the fly I wanted to float, but not the parts I wanted to sink (e.g.,
emergers.)

To my great regret I can no longer buy it in these parts, so I've been
experimenting with Thompson Water Seal. I treat the flies when I tie
them, and it's more or less permanent. Now that I have "Cabosil,"
I'll use that for on-the-stream "refreshing."

vince