Has anyone tried this stuff as a fly floatant? I read a newspaper article and this guy swears by it.
jk,
‘ALBOLENE’ works as well as almost any floatant out there. Lifetime supply and all you have to do is transfer it from its container to a smaller one.
Allan
[This message has been edited by tyeflies (edited 19 April 2006).]
Hey Vocelli,
And don’t forget that the fake eyelashes make wonderful tails on those dry flies! Hehehehehehehe!!!
Might as well make the most of your shopping trip and get it all at once.
Can you just imagine what the check out clerk is thinking when you lay all your girly girl stuff on the counter?
Ya, I’m tying flies with all this stuff!
Suuuuuuuuurrrrreee Yaaa Arrrrrrreee, you Freeeeeeak!!! aaahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
Also get some 40% hydrogen peroxide and some Clairol white to bleach those fly tying materials.
I use Albolene as a floatant on braided leaders…works good for me. I bought a jar about 4 years ago and I’ve still got another 4 years of supply I s’pose.
It’s a wonderful day today! I woke up this morning “Good to go”. So much to do, so little time.
Nail polish remover is basically acetone. You can buy it by the the pint or larger in the hardware store cheaper than the beauty supply.
Dr Bob
While you’re at it, why not some of those glue-on fingernails for some spoon flys
“The day after tomorrow is the third day of the rest of your life”
Forget the eyelashes as a replacement for micro fibbets. Paint brushes are almost the same material and they are much cheaper than false eyelashes. They also come in a good variety of colors for tailing material.
Fish more, work less!
While you are already there, getting the strangest stares from everyone, might as well get one of these implements of mass embarrassment!
It is a brass toothed eyelash brush, but it is the best tool I have found for getting the underfur out of my deer hair and other critters, to use the guard hairs. ~Parnelli
Microfibets were introduced because a lot of people starting buying paint brushes to make flies with the bristles. They are essentially the same thing, but of course you have to buy a paintbrush with the right kind of bristle on it.
ok, now i’m interested. i’m a bonafide female but i’ve never seen albolene. what kind of store, what department?? I’m game.
and can it be used to condition fly lines? i heard that, too, somewhere.
[This message has been edited by Diane (edited 20 April 2006).]
Albolene is a moisturizing cleanser. CVS has it - at least they did about a year ago.
So in other words everyone of you use it or has used it in the past. THANKS FOR THE ANSWER!
If you are going to be fishing plastic beads to imitate eggs in Alaska or elsewhere, pick up some pearl color to opaque fingernail polis. Place the beads on a wire stem stuck in styrofoam, and pain those suckers up opaque to match the phase of salmon eggs.
Sometimes you need small in original color, sometimes small painted, and sometimes you need big beads to imitate chinook eggs, original bead color or opaque.
Is that stuff scented? That could be a problem.
My expertise is limited on a lot of fly fishing matters, but as a pharmacist, I can tell you about Albolene. The ingredients in it are real simple, mostly mineral oil, petrolatum (vaseline in everyday terms), and paraffin. Used to come scented and unscented, but is now only available as unscented, so no worry about that messing things up. All the ingredients are simple oils of one type or other, so it should do a dandy job of floating or water-proofing whatever it’s applied to. Doesn’t appear that there’s anything in there either that would in any way harm equipment or the environment!
I really didn’t need another bottle of floatant but I couldn’t resist the one I saw at a local shop. Guaranteed to keep it up on top, it’s called Flyagra and actually works very well!
Bob
I picked up a 12 oz. container of albolene 15 years ago to use as dry fly floatant and I still haven’t finished the container. This stuff really works. I swear by it.
Jim.
Diane - if I recall, that old timey drug store across the creek from your coffee house (North Hill or some such?) stocks Albolene.
Vocelli - echoing Bob W’s comment on nail polish remover: some beauty versions also have lanolin and other secret ingredients to mitigate drying out young lass’s nails. Aside from the cost, I don’t know if some of these other ingredients help the fly’s function.
To all - as a long time user of Albolene (and red can Mucilin) as well as the myriad of various silicones, paraffins, fluorocarbons and other goops to float flies, leaders and lines, I do use Albolene as a staple. However, in the winter it does get pasty, and if my fingers are as cold as usual, it doesn’t melt and spread out into the fly very well.
And in the summer, the stuff gets a little too runny for my tastes. Albolene is cheap (some say it’s the same as Gink), but it isn’t too uniform in viscosity over a wide temperature range.
tl
les
I was introduced to albolene about 20 years ago by a guide in Montana. It doesn’t harm your line or leader and it doubles as a lip salve for dry lips. I have never used anything else. I do spray all my dry flies with Scotchguard after tying. Works well.
Mike