While dry fly opportunities have been a little limited this year, they improve on an almost daily basis on most of the area rivers. One of the key components to successful dry fly fishing is using the right floatant for the situation. Right after tying on a new dry fly, most of us like to use a gel type floatant like Gehrke’s Gink or Loon’s Aquel. Sometimes it helps to rub the floatant around your fingers first if it’s a cool morning. Even if the floatant is watery from a hot day, we would still rather put it on out fingers first before working it into the fly.
Usually after catching a fish or two or just fishing the fly for a while, it will become waterlogged. If false casting doesn’t dry out the fly it’s time to blot it out.You can use your shirt or a bandana, but a C & F Rubycell Fly Dryer works better. It acts as a sponge to suck out moisture.
After blotting the fly we like to use a good desiccant powder like Loon’s Tope Ride or Frog’s Fanny. We like to use the desiccants with the big open mouth bottles if we’re going to be fishing big bushy flies, but the brush applicator on the Frog’s Fanny is perfect for smaller flies. These desiccants are also the way to go with CDC patterns. Any kind of gel will mat them up and actually decrease their floatability and visibility. The Rubycell Fly Dryer also works well on CDC flies. All these little tools don’t seem like they would make that much difference, but they make your dries dryer and easier to see, which makes your day of dry fly fishing a lot more fun.