Help with floatation

**Byron** · 05-03-08

If anyone want's to go halvies on some hackles I'm keen, I need a new White cape and a dark-red/brown cape. I'll never use the whole thing.

**Gerrit Viljoen** · 05-03-08

Originally Posted by jock0

My routine is now to use hydrostop as soon as I'm finished tying the fly (or taking it out the packet) and letting it cure overnight. When on the water I'll rub a bit of gink into my fly if its a non-cdc fly and a little bit on the tippet section if I want it to float too. I have found gink to work better than the aquel stuff but the aquel is still pretty good. You are welcome to the half a bottle of aquel i still have left if you cant find any locally in pta and dont fancy driving to Mia's. Getting into the habit of redressing your flies on the water is a good one as it gives you a chance to check the tippet, knots, hooks etc after every fish.

Thanks JockO,

I'll take u up on ur offer.Let me know when ur at or going to Solly's.In future I'll get Yunus to order from Jandi.Looks like that is the way to go nowadays with those okes.

**ebf** · 05-03-08

Some suggestions, a couple fall in the "obvious" category, but here goes...

Use light-wire, dry fly hooks.
Use the best quality hackle you can afford.
Ensure that the hackle is the correct size for the fly you are tying. Look at getting a hackle gauge, and possibly a fly dimension chart.
For variant/oversized hackle type flies, pre-treat with Hydrostop like Rudolph said.
For silicone type gel, buy decent stuff, and thoroughly treat the fly before it gets wet...
Once you've started fishing, use TopRide to dry the fly, after blowing excess water off
If you fishing dry + dropper, make sure you have the correct size dry for the amount of weight on your dropper flies.

**Gerrit Viljoen** · 05-03-08

Thanx for all the replies,I'll def use ur advice.

I'm currently testing 100% pure liquid silicone for pre treating.I read that this is also very good.Seems like all agents are silicone based so therefor I see no reason why it shouldn't work.

I have tested it on DH and it worked fine but this was long ago and I never actually fished it so the verdict is still out.

My yarn is busy soaking,will take it out tonight and test it come Sat.

**smallstreams.co.za** · 05-03-08

Hi Gerrit

While on this topic, I might mention using cheap hackle is not always a BAD thing. Mostly cheaper Indian capes are very soft (even more so when it's Hen), and have certain applications in dry flies as well.

When faced with really tough conditions (smooth, low & ultra-clear) I actually prefer to fish with a soft(ish) hackled dry fly. There is a little more movement from the softer barbs, and the fly generally looks a little wispier than a heavily hackled hedgehog. It sits lower (if tied upright) than the stiffer hackles would as well.

So ja, maybe not of much use to you that would fish bigger/faster water more often, but don't discard softer hackles for dries completely.

PS: 80% of my parachute flies have a single turn of partridge of hen hacle on them and a halo.

**FishWhisperer** · 05-03-08

Originally Posted by TJB

all the above is true about how to get it to float, but no matter what you do to treat it, even a poorly treated fly can fish well provided that you fish it with as little drag as possible if you keep drowning it , it wont do the job for long . so fish it without drag and try not to pull it under the water at all if possible. this means you only need a few flies in your box otherwise you will never have enough.

This will help a lot, another thing that works well is instead of pulling your fly backwards to start you back cast after a drift, try high-sticking it and then use a roll cast to pick it up off the water. If you get it right the fly will get picked up off the water clean (and not dragged through the water by your submerged tippet) and you are ready to cast to the next place. This doesn't work if you have a dropper on by the way...

**Gerrit Viljoen** · 05-03-08

Originally Posted by FlyGuide.co.za

Hi Gerrit

While on this topic, I might mention using cheap hackle is not always a BAD thing. Mostly cheaper Indian capes are very soft (even more so when it's Hen), and have certain applications in dry flies as well.

When faced with really tough conditions (smooth, low & ultra-clear) I actually prefer to fish with a soft(ish) hackled dry fly. There is a little more movement from the softer barbs, and the fly generally looks a little wispier than a heavily hackled hedgehog. It sits lower (if tied upright) than the stiffer hackles would as well.

So ja, maybe not of much use to you that would fish bigger/faster water more often, but don't discard softer hackles for dries completely.

PS: 80% of my parachute flies have a single turn of partridge of hen hacle on them and a halo.

So wanneer kan ek kom vir klasse?All this info is a bit confusing.Best I start stappie vir stappie.

Thanks for the info Mario

**jock0** · 06-03-08

Originally Posted by gerrit

Thanks JockO,

I'll take u up on ur offer.Let me know when ur at or going to Solly's.In future I'll get Yunus to order from Jandi.Looks like that is the way to go nowadays with those okes.

Doubt i'll be at Solly's soon but I'm in our Pretoria office for the next couple of weeks so we can make a plan. Might be heading past queenswood too sometime so pm me