Dessicant powdered floatant

[mcwillja]

What is everyone's preferred dessicant or powdered floatant these days? I have been rocking frog's fanny and the dessicant powder from ebay in bulk for years. It may be a time for a change. I don't know. Ive heard good things about high and dry products as well.

What does everyone on here use now? What do you feel is the best on the market for CDC flies?

 

[CLSports]

Why do you need to change then? Maybe change not suing CDC. I never understood the love.

I can check my quart container at home to see where it is from. My buddy bought several containers. Enough for 7 lifetimes. Works as it should.

 

[dryflyguy]

I use a liquid floatant made from lighter fluid and mucilin paste.
Floats the fly as good as anything else IMO
Just one dunk and off you go.

However, once you catch a few fish, the fly still will get saturated and should be dried before the next treatment.

I save desicant crystals - or balls - that come in shipment packages to keep things dry.
Basically the same thing - and free
I dunk a drowned fly in that first, before retreating it in my homemade concoction

 

[Bamboozle]

I have been using hydrophobic fumed silica (AKA Frog Fanny) from bulk sources for a REALLY long time and swear by it for everything from CDC to plain old dries.

BTW - It is NOT a desiccant.

Nothing beats it IMHO for CDC or really anything else.

High N Dry Powdered Floatant is "Frog Fanny."

High N Dry Powdered Floatant & Desiccant is Frog Fanny with silica gel crystals mixed in. You can make your own using those little packs of silica gel that come in electronic devices.

BTW - Silica gel IS a desiccant and NOT Frog Fanny.

Gels & liquid floatants are OK but to be honest, I still carry around liquid floatant and haven't used it in years.

You will also get better results with Frog Fanny on a fly that is not wet as in needing to be dressed again. Hydrophobic fumed silica (AKA Frog Fanny) repels water, it doesn’t absorb it. Putting a wet fly into Frog Fanny can cause the powder to become imbedded in the dubbing and make it sink faster.

While it is a hassle, what I do if I want to re-apply Frog Fanny is to dry out the fly completely with something like a handkerchief, an Amadou patch or the finest silica gel crystals you can find (like people use to dry flowers) or a combination of the three. THEN I reapply Frog Fanny and the fly floats like a cork again.

 

[mcwillja]

Thinking about changing because i think frog fanny and the ebay stuff is sort of toxic.

 

[Bamboozle]

The MSDS for hydrophobic fumed silica says otherwise.

 

[mcwillja]

really? i thought it said it was especially bad to breathe in. Maybe im wrong on that.

 

[ColdBore]

I prefer the Loon Outdoors dip liquid.

I pretreat everything and let them dry at home, in advance.

Easy peasy.

 

[HopBack]

really? i thought it said it was especially bad to breathe in. Maybe im wrong on that.

Its listed as a non toxic irritant. To do any kind of serious damage you would have to breathe in or ingest a large quantity of the substance over a long period of time.

 

[SteveG]

I only use Loon Loscha for cdc dries. Dry with an Umpqua wonder cloth or amadou after it gets slimed up, and you're back in the game. It also works well for hackled dries.

 

[larkmark]

I use it even though i am sure 3/4 f it flies away into the air and ends up on the water everytime I open the bottle. I got a quart of the stuff for not much more than what a tiny bottle costs. Works great. I love CDC. Hate putting that stuff in the water. Just seems like the kind of substance that shouldn't go there. I know it is a tiny amount but still.

 

[Bamboozle]

Out gassing from the plastics in your wading shoes, oils & greases from floatants, some Mylar on a fly you broke off on a snag, insect repellents or sunscreen on your hands and that .0000000000001" piece of mono that you missed with your zinger mounted vacuum cleaner goes in the water too...

...some of you guys worry about the tiniest things. I really don't why you fish and disturb the environment at all...

 

[nymphingmaniac]

agreed. An inhalation irritant. The hydrophobicity assures it won't enter the system. Only question is if there are any trace solvents from the manufacturing process (I don't know if there are, speculating). But then again, trace solvents might be present in those pastes. The worse part is it does a number on my hands and fingernail cuticles
I use it except on my polypropylene winged flies.
As others wrote. It best applied before fishing (getting wet) and after partial drying of a drowned fly and it is essential to thoroughly clean slimed flies.
I reduced the loss by making a home concoction in one of those shaker bottles. Most FF, some silica and small plastic beads. I place the fly, attached to tippet, inside and shake. I still use FF with the brush for really drowned flies.

 

[RLeep2]

When we were living in the Midwest, I used to buy this stuff off the shelf at Bass Pro. It's slightly more coarse than Frog's Fanny, but it worked fine. One bottle would fill up my FF applicator/container 3-4 times. I'm sure there are better quantity for the price deals around if I wanted to shop online, but at the rate I used it I was more interested in the convenience of being able to just go to the store and get it if I so chose...

https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/gateway-feathers-waterproofing-archery-feather-powder

 

[dano]

Someone gave me a couple of 1 gallon bags full of hydrophobic fumed silica and a bunch of bottle brushes. The stuff works just as well as Frog's Fanny. I use a turkey baster to fill the bottles.

 

[Bamboozle]

RLeep2 wrote:
When we were living in the Midwest, I used to buy this stuff off the shelf at Bass Pro. It's slightly more coarse than Frog's Fanny, but it worked fine. One bottle would fill up my FF applicator/container 3-4 times. I'm sure there are better quantity for the price deals around if I wanted to shop online, but at the rate I used it I was more interested in the convenience of being able to just go to the store and get it if I so chose...

https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/gateway-feathers-waterproofing-archery-feather-powder

I would venture to guess hardly anybody buys Frog Fanny by the $6.00 bottle except newbies.

Hydrophobic Fumed Silica (HFS) which is what Frog Fanny is can be bought in bulk by the quart from places that sell to anyone who uses epoxy in large quantities. It is used as a thickener with epoxy.

I buy it by the quart and refill my Frog Fanny bottles.

Fletch powder works fine too except it is coarser.

 

[krayfish2]

Jason, hit it with dry magic and then shimizaki. Can't sink it. LoL

 

[Foxgap239]

Great topic. I, too, buy in bulk from ebay. The guy I used to buy from doesn't seem to be on ebay any longer so I just bought from another guy on ebay. Hopefully it works just as well. Now, that aside, the guys that buy in bulk, what method do you use to refill the small FF bottles? I use a ear wax bulb, it is certainly better than scouping it, but most times gets clogged and comes out in a burst. Looking for other methods.

Thanks.

 

[Bamboozle]

Foxgap239 wrote:
Now, that aside, the guys that buy in bulk, what method do you use to refill the small FF bottles? I use a ear wax bulb, it is certainly better than scouping it, but most times gets clogged and comes out in a burst. Looking for other methods.

Thanks.

My method of refilling my Frog Fanny bottles is a two-step process but it works like a charm.

First, get a turkey baster.

Second, buy several 8 - 10 oz. Natural LDPE plastic Boston Round bottles with a pivot spout cap. They look like this. I bought mine from REI, but there are plenty of sources. While any squirt type bottle will work, the bottles I am recommending are superior because they are clear, soft and have pivot spout caps, which will all make sense when I explain further.

If you want to avoid a mess, keep the bulk Hydrophobic Fumed Silica (HFS) in a plastic bag with a twist tie and keep that bag in another container like a Rubbermaid Serving Saver. Store your turkey baster in that container with the HFS.

Use the turkey baster to fill several of the Natural LDPE plastic Boston Round bottles with bulk HFS, then use the Boston Round bottles to fill the Frog Fanny Bottles. Tapping the Boston Round bottles as you are filling them with the turkey baster will help you get as much of the HFS in to the refill bottle as possible.

If you buy the soft type of bottles I recommend, all you have to do is flip the pivot spout, put it into the Frog Fanny bottle and GENTLY squeeze the “refill” bottle to refill the Frog Fanny Bottle. The HFS will squirt right through the pivot spout like it is a liquid and because the bottle is soft; it is easy to control the flow. They also hold enough bulk HFS to refill a little Frog Fanny bottle many times.

The bottles are clear so you can see how much HFS you have left in your refill bottle, the pivot spot has the right size hole in it to allow the HFS to flow easily and when you close the spout, nothing can leak. Stiffer plastic bottles work, but you will not have the same control as you do with a softer bottle.

I have a bunch of the Natural LDPE plastic Boston Round bottles that I fill with the turkey baster in the winter and store in the basement in another Rubbermaid Container. Then I keep three or four filled bottles in a Ziploc bag in among my gear and before I slam the trunk and head down to the creek, I check my Frog Fanny bottle. If it is low, I take out the brush and refill it in 2 seconds.

Works like a charm with almost no waste and better than any other method, I have heard about.

 

[RLeep2]

That sounds like an excessive amount of fussing to me....

All I'd ever do is take a clean piece of printer/copier paper and fold it once, usually lengthwise. Then, dump some of the silica into the fold and mount the one edge of the paper so it feeds into your FF bottle or whatever receptacle you're using. Then I'd gently and gradually tap-walk the silica down the fold and into the bottle.

Lather rinse repeat until your bottle is filled to your contentment.

If your tap-walk is relatively gentle and you don't do it outside during a gale, silica loss is virtually nil.