deer hair poppers

is it advisable to use floatant on deer hair poppers? if so, is any particular type preferable?

Jalama-

I don't. They should float like a cork without it. If they do get a bit waterlogged, just false cast a few times with a short amount of fly line to dry it out.


peregrines

Right on ... deer hair (from the breast) is hollow and a natural floater. Like already posted, a couple of false casts and that should dry them right out.

This is like asking what is the prettiest color! Some do and some don't. Dave Whitlock uses it--even demonstrates how. I use it, but sometimes don't. One problem is if you use too much you can get it on your tailing materials which can gum up your fly for future use. Besides false casting you can simply squeeze the fly between your fingers and get most of the water out of the fly. Also, the fly often fishes better wet because it sits down in the film instead of high on top. Sometimes the fish like it better fished lower in the water. Decisions, decisions!

Chugger

Jalama,

It really depends on what you want the fly to do. Even a densly packed bug will eventually soak up water, and all the squeezing and false casting won't remove enough water to make the bug perform as it did without all that extra water weight. This can be good or bad, though, depending on what the fish want.

I 'waterproof' a lot of my deer hair bugs with permanent waterproofing liquid. The ones I treat like this float all day, never become waterloggged, and work as they were designed to do regardless of how long they are fished.

However, sometimes you want a little waterlogging. Nothing tied on the end of tippet makes the same 'sound' or moves the same way to attract a bass as a slightly waterlogged deer hair bug. I can't describe the sound, but the bass love it under certain conditions and I'd not venture out onto a bass pond of an evening without one available.

You can also do some 'fine tuning' with the whole waterproofing thing. I like the bodies on my frog patterns to float well, but I want the feather and hair tail to sink below the surface...so I waterproof the bodies but NOT the tails. After a few casts, the tails droop nicely while the bodies ride high.

Another 'partial' method that works as kind of a half measure is to coat the bottom of the bug with a light brushing of brush on CA glue. This seals the open ends of the densly packed belly hair, where 90% of any water will be soaked up through, and makes the bug float well but still get that bit of sloshy wetness that seems so effective at times.

So, if you find that the fish are hitting the bug well while it's 'fresh', but not so much as it gets some water in it, that's when you want a waterproofed bug. Conversely, if the bass are not coming to the bug until it gets a bit damp, then you fish one that's not waterproofed.

Good Luck!

Buddy

Long live the 'fuzzy bugger'!!!!!

I use some thick silicon grease floatant on the front of my deer hair bugs but after a few hours they start getting soggy anyhow. The bass don't seem to notice that much whether the bug is floating high or low but I do most of my bass fishing in the evening in the few hours before sunset and then a little bit after sunset while I can still see to fish.