Just as I am rushing out the door to drive to my mother’s for the weekend, where I hope to get in at least an hour or so with my 3 wt on the little spring creek near her house, I realized that I must have dropped my last bottle of Gink on some stream somewhere. I don’t have time to stop at a shop to get more. Is there some common household item that I can use as a substitute?
Thanks!
try your local pharmacy for a makeup remover caled albolene(SP?)l. It’s supposed to be chemically the same as gink.
The oil from the skin especially around the face will float a fly in a pinch.
I second the Albolene…works great and inexpensive
Now I have to go into the cosmetic counter at my local store and buy not only Sally Hansen Hard as Nails and Albolene as well. I don’t think the store clerk is going to buy my story that it’s all for fly fishing. 8T 
Does this mean that I can now remove my makeup with Gink??
Go into Wal-Mart, or Ace, or Home Depot and get a can of “Silicone Water-Guard”
Spray it into a small container and soak and dry your flies…haven’t tried it streamside to see how quick you could apply it and the fly dry and work. Nice thing for me to try out.
You could spray it into a small leak proof container and have the liquid to carry along…or soak the flies and hag out to dry the night before.
Has an Orange Cap or lid in a spray can. Heavy duty water repellent listed for suede, leather, nylon, cotton, canvas, and all other fabrics. Top of cap says Scores 100 with single application. Highest performance possible. Just trying to describe the spray can so you get the right stuff if you choose it.
Just an fyi suggestion. Probably million other things…Scotch Guard…
While your there pick up the sallys in black and red, a set of toe nail clippers for tying, a set of finger nail clippers for tippet( your old ones are probably dull) some hair ties to put on your tippet spools to keep them from unrolling, some finger nail files form forming dremel bugs and sharpening hooks
did I forget anything?
Might as well get the dirty looks over at once. and keep telling yourself at least its not the lingerie department.
Eric
Alboline is also good for the fly line.
fishbum
If you have time to stop at a Walmart for the other stuff, they carry fly floatant there, too.
Jim
Wow! Thanks for all the responses! I was actually looking for something to use without having to run to a store, so I’ll have to save the alboline trial for after I return home, but I will check that out.
I’ve heard about using skin oil, but had forgotten about that - will have to try it - at least out of curiosity!
BTW, for what its worth, I’ve tried the watershed/scotch guard type treatments for new flies, but I always ended up using floatant on those flies anyway, so I stopped using it. In fact, I found several open bottles of Watershed while I was digging through my gear looking for Gink :-/
hmmm…while paging backwards from my last post, I just noticed the Walmart reference - that is interesting - never thought of checking there for fly fishing gear, thanks!
Walmart’s selection varies greatly depending on location. I haven’t been in one yet that has any flyfishing gear besides the occasional starter kit and a few packs of cheap flies.
The ones down in Columbus that I went to at school didn’t even have the hooks I buy at the ones back home for panfish flies.
Thanks for the help, everyone! Turns out that we finished our chores early, so not only was I able to get to the fly shop that is about 20 minutes from mom’s condo, but I was also able to fish for about 2 hours…and then as my luck goes, I did not need the Gink after all. The only fly that worked well today was a “brown and peacock!”
…BTW, now that I think about it, I think I first heard/saw the successful fly was on this website. It was actually listed as a peacock and gray and someone else mentioned substituting brown hackle. I love this fly - works every time I use it.
Here’s another vote for Alboline, I first heard about it on a furled leader forum as a way to float leaders & I tried it on dry flies & it worked on them too. It also works on flyline , or at least the last few feet on a sinking , floating line. I even mixed up some in a vial with alcohol & I can stick a fly in it & shake it up to impregnate the fly. I’ve always put whatever liquid floatant I had into a small vial rather than spraying it on a fly anyway. I had small travel shampoo bottle with a squeeze type spout on it & I heated up some Alboline & poured it into it & I keep in my vest & it’s working out great.
In a pinch, you can use Chap Stick (r) for limited success. It will work, just not real well, or for very long.
Kirk
I thought it was “Albolene” Moisturizing Cleanser.
That is what I purchased. Did I buy the wrong thing?
It says “the makeup comes off, the moisture stays in” On the back it says "Albolene Moisturizing Cleanser liquifies on contact with your skin to gently and thoroughly dissolve makeup, dirt, and even mascara.
If you HAVE it, and didn’t spell it like what I bought…did I buy the wrong stuff?
Looks to me that they only make two different products - scented, and unscented. I tried the unscented version, and it worked fine. Just make sure you put it in a container that seals REALLY well, or it will liquify and make a nice mess out of your vest. In colder weather, there’s no problem…
Thanks HA. I have the right stuff then. My container says “Fragrance Free”
Man it is a FULL jar. I might have a lifetime supply.
Thanks again for the confirmation.
Hi BlueDun,
Stuff like deer fat, etc, used to be used, so I suppose if you took some baccon greese you could use that. A good excuse to have some baccon anyway
Of course, since you’ve already been and gone, this comes a wee bit late.
The “brown and peacock” is sometimes just called a “brown hackle”, and iI also think t’s a great fly. There are a lot of patterns that build upon it if you are looking for some variations around that theme. For example, add a small gold tag, and use a dry fly furnace hackle and it’s a “coch-y-bonddu” (origianlly the hackle was brown, with black center stripe and black tips as well, but that’s near impossible to find anymore), which is probably one of the most versitile beetle patterns around. Keeping with the wet fly patterns, add a tuft of red wool at the tail and it’s called a “red tag”, and a yellow tuft of wool is a “treakle parkins”. Add white wings to it and you’ve got a “coachman” (which eventually evolved into the royal coachman), and grey wings is a “leadwing coachman”.
Oh yah, another dry fly is to add a tip of red floss and upright wings is a “red tipped govenor”.
All of the above patterns are really productive, and all are just bits added onto the humble brown and peacock. I agree with you that it’s a great fly.