Fly Fishing Central Florida

Dry Fly Floatants: Keep you flies foating high

 by Captain Craig Crumbliss, Orvis Endorsed Fly Fishing Guide/Instructor

In my last blog post aimed at trout anglers I briefly mentioned the importance of using the right floatant. This is also very important for our local lakes and pond when fishing the Florida Mayfly hatch during the Spring and Fall. So today let’s look at the main types of floatants, their uses, and maybe more importantly when you shouldn’t use them.

Gel Style Floatant: A silicon gel style floatant is probably the most popular and familiar to many trout anglers. When applying gel floatant you’ll want to squirt a small drop onto your index finger and rub it onto the fly. By squirting it onto your finger instead of directly onto the fly you’ll be able to wipe off a little if you get heavy handed with the tube. When not to use gel floatant: If your fly is wet, dry it off before application or you’ll seal the water into the fly and it won’t float no matter how much you use. Also if your fly has any CDC fiber in it you want to avoid any sort of gel floatant. The CDC fibers float because of a natural oil found in the feather and if you coat it with gel it will sink.

Shake Style Floatant: This powdered floatant is used to help get the last little bit of water out of your fly after you have fished for a while and need to reapply gel. The shake style floatant is also safe for CDC fibers so feel free to use it with your favorite CDC patterns as well.

Dust Style Floatant: Dust style floatant is usually a little finer than what you’d find in the shake tubes. It’s applied with a small brush on the lid of the cap and can be used on CDC flies as well. One technique I like to use the dust for is to brush it on my weighted nymph patterns.This will give the body small bubbles like a natural bug getting ready to emerge. Personally I like to mix some of the dust style floatant into my tube of shake style floatant. I feel it works a little better to dry out the fly with some of the finer dust.

Using the right type of floatant in the right situation is key to making sure your flies float high all day long.

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