Cleaning Flys after use (salt).

I have been told just rinse the flys off with fresh water. This seems to work about half the time. They still get rust on them. The worst part seems to be right at the pinched down barb. I also tried soaking them but it bleeds the color out of them. I use Gamakatu saltwater hooks for all my ties. I love to tie flys but when you have caught a few fish with a curtain fly you get the sense that it has some sort of mystical and magical powers and would like to save it and use it on your next trip. Does anyone have ideas on how to better to clean flys after a hard day of saltwater fishing. Thanks, later.

In my opinion, rusty flies is a burden you have to bare for saltwater fishing. Usually my flies don't last long enough to rust. I'm always losing them on oyster bars, etc.

I generally bring an extra water bottle along to rinse off flies with fresh water. I think that's about the best you can do.

I suggest you try mustad stainless steel hooks.
All I fish is salt water now and never have a rust problem. Then too perhaps theres more to this than meets the eye, storage perhaps is an issue to be looked at? I dont know.

Gamakatsu hooks seem to rust out faster than any other "saltwater" hooks I've used. Any stainless hook will work, but they tend to lose their edge quicker. Although a few swipes with a file is still quicker than tying new flies up every time you fish.

I put my used flies in a sink with warm water and let them soak for a few minutes, swish them around, then rinse them and set them on a towel or hang them on something to air dry. Rarely to I get rusty flies. I do find that patterns with bead chain eyes are more likely to rust since it is hard to get all of the water out of the eyes.

I rinse all my flies used that day in warm water and then lay them out on a towel and pat them dry to get as much water out of them as possible. Then I place them somewhere where they will get some direct sun , a breeze or some heat so they dry as quickly as possible. This will help to really keep the rust down.

Also as mentioned using stainless steel hooks will help nearly eliminate any rusting issues.

:D You might try soaking the fly in Salt-X for a few minutes, then rinse in water and let dry. Tap water will cause hooks to rust as a rule. Try to use either spring water or equivelant.

Thanks guys. I'll try all of the suggestions mentioned above. I need all the help I can get! Later.