If you are using a dry fly intended to simulate a surface water insect, a floatant of some kind is needed. If the dry fly gets saturated and sinks, it is completely worthless. Your best bet is to pretreat your dry flies with one of these products.

What kind of hackle is good for dry flies?

The Whiting line has the stiffest, most dense hackle for tying the best floating dry flies in the world.

Can you put Floatant on fly line?

There’s nothing worse than having your dry fly sink repeatedly. Put a little dab of our Scientific Anglers Fly Floatant on your finger, apply it to your fly and tippet, and get back to fishing the way real (stubborn) anglers do: dries only.

Can you use Vaseline as dry fly Floatant?

Just mix lighter fuel with vaseline and there you go. It took several days for the Vaseline to dissolve and I had a milky looking liquid in my bottle. Despite the strange look of the stuff I dropped some dries in there, let them soak for a few minutes, took them back out and left them on a piece of cloth to dry.

What are BWO flies?

BWO is short for Blue Winged Olive but is also referred to as a baetis. These are tiny Mayflies that can hatch any time of year, but primarily in the cooler months of Fall, Winter and Spring. Their colors are pale olive to dark olive.

What is a Catskill dry fly?

Its stripped quill body actively mimicking the segmented body profile of countless flies. Through the years of course I learned to adapt traditional Catskill dry flies and invent my own regional patterns based around the Catskill style.

What do we know about the wings of Catskill legend flies?

Often the winging material was quite heavily applied and the overall proportions were larger. Examination of actual flies tied by the Catskill legends (Gordon, Cross, Darbee, Dette, etc) shows wide variation from fly to fly with respect to wing, hackle and tail length.

How to make a DIY dry fly floatant?

It really is very easy to make the DIY Dry Fly Floatant, you can make a large amount and supply your friends, or just make a sample to try it out. The ingredients are simply paraffin wax or a white candle and Coleman’s liquid fuel. You can experiment with other liquid carriers but Naptha works.

What is fly floatant used for?

The object is to stop your dry flies from absorbing water and thus, ensure that the fly floats. Floatant normally has some form of a waxy substance that coats the dry fly and a liquid that acts as the carrier. The liquid carrier evaporates leaving the wax covering the fly.