How long does floatant take to dry?
Should it be apply to all dry flies prior to leaving for your flyfishing trip?
How often do you need to re-apply?
Nobody answered this yet?
Flies can be dunked in hydrostop as soon as you’ve tied them. They’ll be good and dry before you go fishing. Frog fanny and bug float are usually applied just before you heave the flies into the water.
Usually you need to reapply the bug float or frog fanny after the flies are retrieved from a fishes mouth, or when you see the fly is no longer floating. Clean them off, dry them off, and re-apply the floatant. It’s recommended you NOT use any other floatants on flies with CDC in them (I know … controversy:rolleyes:). For CDC flies use CDC oil SPARINGLY!
I use the drying “crystals”. Works better than the liquid stuff…for me.
dishunter,
When I first started tying flies I used to soak the flies in a liquid, I believe it was a Herters product, something like silicone. But, now I do not. I take the untreated flies to the river and use what dressing I feel is best for the situation.
My main floatant is the Loon Aquel. I also will use Gink dry fly dressing. All depends upon which one I take with me. I use those on all of my dry flies that are size 16 and larger.
On my smaller dries, I use a silica powder, either Loon Top Ride or Frogs Fanny. The Loon product is designed so you place the fly inside the container and shake it and the Frogs Fanny comes with an applicator brush that you use to really stuff the silica down into the hackle. I use these products on the small flies because they keep the fly afloat by causing air bubbles within the hackle. I found that the gels tended to allow the small flies to sink, just because of the weight of the gel, in my opinion anyway.
Either way, you will be applying a lot of floatant during the day. Either the fly gets totally water logged or as Gnu Bee pointed out, when you have caught a fish, the fluids from the fish will sink a fly.
So, get a bottle of gel and a bottle of silica powder and go forth and fish.
Larry 
—sagefisher—
i allways apply floatant to my flies right after i tie them… i let them dry fer 24hrs before using them… i tie lots of flies so i dont have to wory about waiting for the batch i just tied to get dry before i can go fishin… i really like the (water shed) floatant best… it is a permanant FLY floatant… capitalizes fly because its just for flies… put this stuff on a silk fly line, ya gona ruin it…
Good afternoon.
A suggestion
Soak your dry flies in 3M Scotch Guard and then nothing else is required for a year or two…If you still have those flies.
Don’t just spray them, give them a good soaking and leave to dry and desmell for about a week.
Kind regards,
UB
Gink’s user here.
I use the silicone liquid in the ‘pinch-neck’ bottle. Seems to clean ‘gunk’ from the fly and float it.
I use gink, on stream, as needed.
I use Watershed if I remember it. On stream I use Mucellin in the Red Container. Flies float like little corks with the Mucellin. You can also use it to grease leaders and silk fly lines.
Ron,
Your posting reminded me that my guide on the Clark Fork River in Montana, Brooks Sanford of the Clark Fork Trout & Tackle shop in St. Regis also uses the Mucellin, and I believe it was a red can. It sure makes those flies ride nice and high on the water.
Larry —sagefisher—
Agreed. Often use a dab of it to ‘dress’ the wings/hackle after cleaning the fly with the silicone. (forgot to mention that, (red can)) 
Now that sounds like a good Idea!
All the best.
Mike.
question on the scotch guard… does this clump or matt up the fly ? does it leave a film or anything in the streams ?
Good evening.
Scotch Guard.
Once dry, you cannot see it, doesn’t muck up anything or even change the colour, so far, but I’ve only been using it maybe 20 plus years or so, maybe a bit more.
SG, soaks deep and therefore prevents water from soaking the fly right down to the hook, a couple of false casts and its as dry and floating just ‘like a bought one’ !
AND
a little trick.
soak a cloth with SG and use this as a wipe on your leader.
AND
there is no stain on the water, nothing.
I don’t understand why more don’t use the product, because to me, its just the normal thing to do and has been for years.
AND
I use it on my Poly type indicators to add increase the floating factor and decrease the amount of water they hold when casting.
Kind regards,
UB
Uncle - have you been able to buy Scotchguard lately? I recall that the active ingredient was a halogenated material that finds itself into human bloodstreams and 3M voluntarily discontinued manufacture of the stuff. This was a very proactive and environmental/health conscious initiative on the part of this fine company.
JC - that old pinchbottle stuff which Garcia and others had in the '60’s contained carbon tetrachloride, which was used in dry cleaning. It had the advantage of being nonflammable, unlike most solvents. It also evaporated very quickly. However, it was determined to be bad for carbon based biological life forms (like us) and now is only used industrially, and not much there now.
So if’n anybody has any of these antiques, despite their efficacy they are not very available these days. Use them (up) advisedly.
tl
les
I just purchased 3-different, ScotchGuard cans, yesterday… one for tying, (Fabric), one for Carpet and one for car upholstery!?
I don’t think, it’s “been taken off the market”, as of yet!
Even Amazon carries about 6 of the different ScotchGuards still.
Flybinder - good to hear, since ‘Scotchguard’ is a most bodacious TM. Betcha they reformulated it, as you can see [u]http://www.chemicalindustryarchives.org/dirtysecrets/scotchgard/1.asp[/u]
tl
les
PS I think the article is kind of slanted. My take is 3M acted way before anybody made them do it.
Good morning.
Last can bought only a couple of months ago from our local supermarket, here in Australia.
Kind regards,
UB
Don’t we now have to discuss in detail which of the 6 or more is better???:rolleyes: