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[Hung]

I was watching an instructional video tape on fly fishing for trout.  The guy was demonstrating a technique to keep the tippet/leader float on the water - by applying some grease along the line.  Is there a special grease to use for this?  Or can I just use vaseline?  Also, should I soak my dry fly in some expensive liquid (?) or can I effectively dry them in the air with false cast? 

Been reading some books and watching videos on fly fishing and get pretty excited about it.  My son really wants me to spend money and buy a fly tying kit now, thanks to Rod's Fishing for the Future event in June   

Is there any stream or river that we can C&R small trout around Vancouver (within 2 hours) using our fly rods?  May be I should stick to conventional fishing until I catch some fish first 

[TtotheE]

I personally use a fly floatant by fenwick(which I bought when I started out,  been lasting me quite a few years now).  A friend of mine uses Xink(sp?).  There are also dry shakes(drying powder for dry flies) for drying out drenched flies.  I like to use a combination of both.  I "grease" up my tippet and my dry fly with the fly floatant,  and once the fly no longer floats,  I shake it up in the dry shake,  blow off the excess powder and go at it again.  My experience is that my flies do not dry off completely with false casts alone,  especially after its been taken underwater by a trout  As long as you're not driving the dry fly through the surface of the water when casting,  the fly should remain buoyant until submerged by a fish,  if greased up.

I've never tried vaseline,  but you may be onto something 

As for "dressing" your dry flies,  a fly tying book I purchased a long time ago mentioned that you can use Scotchguard on your dry flies to increase water repellency.  Having "grease" for your tippet greatly improves buoyancy as the tippet will float and thus not drag your fly under the water.

[Hung]

Very helpful comment, TtotheE.  Thanks!  Great idea re. using Scotchguard.  Yes, "greasing" the line is new to me and I hope it will help.  I think in the past it's the line that dragged my fly under water and thus not much success with fly fishing.  Well I'm not successful with conventional fishing either, but I can't think of an excuse for it right now 

[reach]

Well, you could "go with the flow" and use nymphs, since your line is headed under water anyway...

As for a good spot for C&R fishing, a couple of months ago Egmontman & I went up to Tamihi Creek and had good luck catching small rainbows/steelhead smolts with nymphs.  We were about 6 or 8 km up the logging road.  Some people jumped on me for posting that, saying it's a sensitive stock and we shouldn't have been up there, but if you catch & release I don't see a problem with it.  There were plenty of small fish around.

Keep an eye out for hunters though.  Maybe shout "I'm not a deer" every few minutes.   

[Fish Assassin]

You apply a floatant to your line, not grease or Scotchguard.

[itosh]

Just go to any flyshop and ask for floatant.  You can apply it to the fly. leader and fly line.  A popular brand is Gink (not Xink - this is to make your fly sink - but made by the same company) and is yellow with a red cap.  This will last you a long time, still got mine from close to 10 yrs ago.  Also, make sure you don't use flourocarbon for your leader/tippet material, as this will sink even with floatant.  Haven't heard about the Scothguard tip, but have heard that silicone spray? works.  When you tie your own flies you can incorpoate thin slices of foam to your flies to make them float even better.  Damn, it almost sounds like I know what I am talking about!!

Shane

[Jonny 5]

For the line, I have used various things.  i use a floatant called aquel.  its good. no slick.  I also use it for the flies, and you have to be carefull that you don't add too much and make you fly look really odd by having it float way up high.

In the past I have used mink oil, and even chapstick (in a pinch) to get the line to float nicely, but prefer the aquel over chapstick cause it tastes better 

[newsman]

Mucline

[Terry Bodman]

The fly floatant you buy is really just silicon. While I haven't tried it myself, Scotchguard is mainly silicon and should work. Give it a try.

[JackFunk]

I stopped using dressings. I have a two bottles, one for float, one for sink. They are intended for flies but occasionally I have used them to dress my leader/tippet. Sometimes I would actually put sink on the leader to have my tippet break the surface film on still waters to avoid the coiling tippet shadows on the surface.

Thing is, I have noticed that both float and sink leave an oily stain on the water surface. Doesn't look too nice. I am not exactly sure what is in the stuff but it looks oily. I basically stopped using either, I figure I don't need to put anymore stuff in the water.

Keeping your floating line clean, ie; give it wash with a very mild soapy water. will make it last longer and float better.  (I would avoid scotchgard, armour all, etc. you may very well void your warranty.)

You might try using flies that are a little more 'floaty'  (Tom Thumb) even try some flies incorporating foam in them (foam body ants for eg.)

Also keep a couple of each fly handy, and as one is totally soaked, switch it up to a dry version, and let the soaked one dry out on your drying pad, repeat.

[river]

Floatant works awesome for greasing tippets, get the stuff that comes out like grease, and then melts with your hand's warmth. when you start tying, and the fly gets too small to bunch up with foam, make sure you buy the top grade dryfly hackle (and learn where the better hackle fibers can be found on it). I believe this is key to having your fly sitting 'on' the water due to surface tension, rather then surfing in the air/water interface (flotation) like an emerger... usually a properly dressed dryfly will dry out sufficiently with a single false cast.

"dries for show,
wets for dough!"

chachi