A little off-topic but thought someone might have an idea. Do any of you make your own 'dry fly dressing'? Some home-made concoction that can be put on dry flies to help them float. I seem to go thru a lot of the store-bought stuff and it is expensive and sometimes hard to find in my area. Thanks

Steve Cox Wrote:
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> A little off-topic but thought someone might have an idea. Do any of you make your own 'dry fly
> dressing'? Some home-made concoction that can be put on dry flies to help them float. I seem to go
> thru a lot of the store-bought stuff and it is expensive and sometimes hard to find in my area.
I've been using a White Gas and Paraffin Wax concoction for years. Just shave off some of the wax in a jar
and add the fuel and let it melt.

On cold days it will look just like wax as it hardens but a few minutes in my pocket and it's liquid again.

Don't have access to White Gas you can substitute White gas with Coleman fuel or naptha as they are
the same thing.

Ron, my dad has been a fly fishing guide in Western Oregon's McKenzie River area for 35 years. A trick I learned from him is to use Albolene cream. It's a facial cleansing cream found in the make-up section of any grocery/department store. It works best if mixed, in a small glass bottle, with some liquid lighter fluid. The cream provides the floatant. The lighter fluid is simply a medium which suspends it for ease of application. It should be fairly cloudy but thin enough to actually submerge the fly. Remove it and shake the excess back into the bottle. Blow on it a bit to restore the hackles to a natural look. The lighter fluid evaporates quickly leaving a fly that floats nicely. Of course, after catching a fish, the fly should be cleaned well, dried and re-treated. I've got a large container of Albolene that I've been working on for fifteen years. It lasts forever and is much less expensive than commercial products. Hope this helps.

Mark Boggs

Springfield, OR