Floatant, Sink, Weight, Indicate

FLOATANTS, SINKENTS AND INDICATORS EXPLAINED - FLY TACKLE

Dry fly floatant is a combination of a wax and carrier in a liquid state. It is intended to keep your dry flies from absorbing water, to keep the fly floating. Floatant normally has a waxy substance that coats the dry fly and a lighter liquid that acts as a carrier for the waxy substance that evaporates. The lighter liquid serves the same purpose that paint thinner does in house paint. Paint thinner is a carrier for oil and pigment for your house paint. Just like paint thinner, the liquid substance in floatant quickly evaporates leaving only the waxy substance behind. The purpose of dry fly floatant is to keep your dry fly floating on the surface of the water. Dry flies are intended to simulate insects that sit on top of the surface tension of a body of water. If the fly is sinking, even a little bit, it will not look realistic. Fish have incredibly good eyesight and can spot an unnatural fly right away. If the dry fly is not floating on top of the surface tension of the water, the fish will not bite. Get the fly floating properly, and you can catch fish all day long.

Gel Floatants, These are the most commonly used type of dry fly floatant. They have been around for decades. The best way to use gel floatant is as a pretreatment. You must apply the gel to a dry fly that is completely dry right out of your fly box. Any moisture and you will actually make the fly worse and cause it to sink faster. You also need to be sure and remove any excess gel before you start fishing. You want just enough gel to coat the fly. Anything extra will make it sink. You can false cast a few times (which I do anyway) to knock off any extra gel from the fly. You should go for one of the new CDC friendly gel floatants so it can be used on all flies. For those that do not know, CDC is a particular type of duck feather used in tying certain dry flies.

Powder Shake Floatants, These are perfect products to be used once a fly has gotten too wet. Shake floatants are meant for larger flies and are very easy to apply. The mouth of the container is large enough that you can just drop the fly inside the container and then shake it up. Keep in mind that shaking a fly in powder floatant will dry and lightly coat the fly, but this is a temporary fix. You will only have a few casts before you must apply the powder again. One other option is to apply more gel floatant after you apply the powder floatant. This takes quite a bit longer, but in the end it will save you time. You will not need to apply your powder nearly as often.

Brush-On Floatants, These products can treat both wet and dry flies and are fine for smaller flies as well. They will last through more casts than shake on floatants, but they are not ideal for large flies. Brush on floatants must be brushed on, so the process is a bit more time consuming. That is why using this on small flies is better. There is less area to cover.

Spray-On Floatants, Spray floatants are becoming more popular because of ease of use. These products can be used as a pretreatment and also after the fly is wet. Just pull the fly out of the water and spray it down. You are good to go. Sprays work better for large flies as the coating is more even.

Dip and Dunk Floatants, These products are also fairly new and are becoming more popular. Dip and dunk floatants are a combination of different chemicals that make this product the perfect pretreatment for flies. They do work best if the fly is completely dry. Your best use for this product is to completely submerge the dry fly and then let it dry for at least five minutes before it hits the water.

Sinkents are used to help your fly or leader sink without added weight. Sinkents are usually in a gel form and when applied it degrees the floatant on your leader and fly making them neutral buoyancy. Some sinkent pastes have tungsten powder which will actually sink your fly faster. A Strike indicator is a float attached to a fly line that suspends a sinking fly called a nymph. The strike indicator allows the fly fisher to see when a fish strikes the sunken fly. It is similar to a bobber, except that it is specifically designed for use in fly fishing. fly fishing strike indicator. Personally I like to fish a nymph under a large high floating fly such as a stimulator if I am just nymphing I prefer the reusable merino wool indicators like the NZ Strike indicator.

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