Check out this...http://www.drlogik.com/flyfloatants.html I love stuff that is cheaper AND better-great combination,right?...
Do you know how this parafin based floatant would do on foam body flies? I wonder if it would absorb into the foam, particularly if applied at a warmer temperature, and not effect the foam's color when it dries.
I use it with what I think is great success over any others. Long lasting stuff. Easy to use; just dip the fly and shake or blow the excess off. Dries quickly. Cortland used to bottle it under the name "One Step-Fly New", but rare to find it now. Just use the Bergman's formula and make your own. In colder weather, keep it close to your body or it will thicken a bit. Never tried it on foam flies. Not sure how they would react to white gas. Dissolve maybe?
I have used many different floatants over the years that I have fly fished. I used Aquel until I came to Montana. I now use something called Moose Snot. Not to sure hows it's made as I'm not into smelling what I use. It doesn't melt in the heat in the summer here in Montana like Aquel does. I used some stuff that came in a little red tub that had something to do with the name Skykomish, another brand name was ABU Garcia. It came in a hour glass shaped bottle. This was some good floatant. I also used a spray bottle, not to sure on the name of it, Sci-Ang. I used Aquel like I said but in the heat of the summer it melted. I'll use Moose Snot until something better comes along. It stays the same no matter how warm or cold it is out. But then again I don't fish dries in the winter months.
Some other alternatives. Works better than all the other paste types in my opinion. http://www.pharmapacks.com/products...scented-6-oz&gclid=CPzCtrKty68CFaad4godwB52Xw Use sparingly, a little goes a long way. Powdered floatant. Same as Fletch Dry, Froggs Fanny and others w/out the fancy bottle or price. The only way to float CDC. Requires a way to dry the fly after it starts to sink. I use Amadou fungus. http://www.epoxyproducts.com/silica.html http://www.epoxyproducts.com/f_mixin.html
Sounds like a commercial product called Fly-agra. Keeps your fly up, as their advertising says. I used it for a while- I didn't find it any more effective than anything else. I hated the smell and getting it on my hands and waders. Not sure how I feel about getting stuff like that in a river, either. Doug
Very Cool, thanks for posting. I have a MT guide/friend who makes up his own floatant as well. It uses a mixture of paraffin and lighter fluid and holy hell does it work -- particularly if used on a brand new fly. Only word of caution is to watch your back casts, because if you smack the rocks and strike an arc...pooof
Hey-Well,the amount of naptha involved is miniscule for sure...you wait for iit to dry if I understand this stuff right...anyway,I got the npatha at Ace Hardware [thank God for real hardwre stores!!] $10 a pint or so. and now I check candles to see if they dissolve.If not I`ll hunt down some genuine paraffin...I hear there are two kinds of paraffin though-sometyhing else to check out. Fly floatant is expensive.Deduct 19 points. Bergamn doesn`t add 100 points. Fly floatant doesn`t have much of a useful lifespan.Deduct 50,000 points. Bergamn supposedly last all day.Add 10000 points. So what`s thsat add up to [assuming all goes well]
Well the Moose Snot is flammable. So Since I don't smoke I will have to watch my back casts. Don't want to make my dries disappear.
There are two kinds of crude oil in the US. One is asphalt based and the other is paraffin based. Most of the paraffin based oil comes from Pennsylvania and the asphalt based oil comes from Texas, the gulf, etc. When you refine one you wind up with what most people would call tar. Mix the result with gravel and some other junk and you have I-90. The refined result of the other is paraffin. Add back any of what they call the "light ends" napha, benzene, etc and the paraffin dissolves back to its pre-refined liquid state. So if you find any (and they are all flammable) petroleum product, it should hold the paraffin in liquid state. Some of these chemicals will do better in cold weather than others and some will have less odor based on their processing. Find any one you like and you should have your formula. A word of caution. Many foams use compounds that are also petroleum based and the solvents used to liquify the paraffin will probably break them down or make them sticky. Probably not what you want. I learned to fly fish in Michigan where there happens to be a lot of oil and gas. There were also some great trout hangouts. When I was younger, we worked eight or ten on and had two shifts off. It was a short drive to the Au Sable, Jordan, Pere Marquette and the Boardman. I knew someday the useless oil engineering knowledge would come in handy.
You can buy parrafin in a grocery store. Just look for the canning supplies. It's cheap. For about four bucks, you could make enough floatant to last a lifetime.
Why would one want to make a freeway. Don't we already have an I-90. Mixing up junk to make floatant sounds like too much work. I only want to have fun fishing. After all if it was work, you'd all want to get paid doing it.
Not work for me.It`s instructive fun.I like the fact that I get 4 lifetimes worth of superior floastant for what otherwise would get me a couple oz.s of mediocre crap,at least in the worst case. [I have a lot of time on my hands,man...health reasons...] Anyway,the "Gulf Wax"[walamrt paraffin] dissolved completely in the naptha and left me with paste.i`m thinking this is too thick as I don`t want to mat the hackles,etc... So what now? What about if i asdd some glycerine to reduce viscosity and make this stuff something I can dip my dries into? Teedub?...ideas?...Anyone?
