I noticed I posted the recipe wrong eariler - Its correct now…Sorry bout that!!!
Brannon
While I haven’t tried any homemade concoctions of “phillic & phobic”; I never liked the store bought mixtures. Whenever I put a soaked fly in the container, the powder seemed to get embedded in the dubbing and wouldn’t come out resulting in a permanently whitish body.
As a result, I have always done the two step method of drying first, and then treating with Frog Fanny or a reasonable facsimile.
The best drying agent I found is Cortland Dry-Ur-Fly which is pure Silica Gel crystals. I’ve been using and hording the stuff for more than 20 years after they changed the crystal size & went with an indicator. I’m happy to report that Cortland has once again made the Silica Gel crystals very fine which IMHO really helps to facilitate moisture absorption in all the tiny nooks & crannies. A few crystals may stick to the fly, but a quick flick knocks them right off. The stuff works great and can be recharged if it ever gets totally waterlogged.
Of course, YMMV.
The knowledge base of the members of this forum absolutely amazes me.
I ask a simple question, very quickly get well informed answers, then we all get in-depth technical information. Plus we get sources listed as links to get what we need.
WOW.
THANK YOU!!
I’m a chamois/wonder cloth and fumed silica guy. I dry with the cloth and then apply fumed silica from an old FF bottle using the brush.
I did my own informal test of FF vs fumed silica to see if could notice a difference. I used two new flies, two separate containers of water. I drowned both flies (cdc caddis), dried them with wonder cloth, applied FF to one and fume silica to the other. Then I tried to drown them again. I repeated the process a few times and I couldn’t really see any difference. I repeated this process with a couple of weighted nymphs with similar results. If nothing else I got a really good look at how applying the powder really creates a good looking trailing shuck.
I’ll have to try the turkey baster. Right now I just make a funnel by rolling up a sheet of paper but the baster sounds quick.
Instead of a turkey bastr I use a plastic squeeze bottle, like the yellow and red ones restaraunts use for mustard and ketchup. I found mine at Michaels’s craft store (used for decorating cakes) It’s a clear plastic squeeze bottle with a small cap. I use it as a bulk container and I’m ready to add a squirt of fumed silica to any other small container.
http://www.michaels.com/art/online/displayProductPage?productNum=bk0100
I don’t know if its been mentioned or not, but here’s an idea. Instead of trying to get the stuff back into a an old FF bottle, why not simply put it into any container you can that will fit where you want it to and then get one of those little kids paint brushes that come with the crayola paints and use that as the applicator?
I was once told by a retired chemist that while the materials are not expensive, the real costs are in the packaging of the dry powder.