Hareline Water Shed and other waterproofing treatments

[pcray1231]

I haven't seen this product discussed much before.

Hareline water shed - I use it on most of my dries. Supposed to be the bee's knees, but to be honest I'm not sure I notice a huge advantage. I've never gotten all that scientific about testing it, so I admit it may be helping and I'm just forgetting how the other half lives. Figure it can't hurt. One bottle lasts a lot of flies.

For those that don't know, it's a waterproofing treatment that you apply dry and let cure for at least a day. Supposed to significantly increase the float time.

I've been told you can use some non FF products that do essentially the same thing, for instance, Rain X, Thompson's Waterseal, and Scotch Guard to name a few.

Anyone else have opinions on Water Shed or home equivalents?

 

[WildTigerTrout]

I use "Watershed" on new dry flies that I have just finished tying. On the stream I still apply "Loon" Aquel floatant before I fish the fly. When needed (after catching a fish) I dip and shake the fly in "Cortland" Dri-ur-fly to remove moisture. A couple of false cast to remove residue and your ready to go.

 

[MKern]

I used watershed for a little bit, but never noticed a difference in floatability; matter of fact my dries just sank.

I stopped using it. What's the point of applying gink streamside to a fly treated with watershed, whne I can jst apply it without that 24 period ahead of time.

 

[MKern]

I will say that para post s supposed to be poly yarn treaded with watershed.

I like it for this application and think para post floats okay (at first).

 

[dryflyguy]

This stuff came out at least 10 years ago now. And I - along with several of my buddies - tried it out. And we all gave it a thumbs down. Flies treated with it floated OK until you caught a fish.
Then they sank like a rock after that
I honestly didn't see any advantage to using it, and still have half of the bottle sitting around here some where.

I really haven't found anything that works much better than my home made mixture of mucilin paste and lighter fluid - which is what George Harvey recommends in his books

 

[afishinado]

dryflyguy wrote:
This stuff came out at least 10 years ago now. And I - along with several of my buddies - tried it out. And we all gave it a thumbs down. Flies treated with it floated OK until you caught a fish.
Then they sank like a rock after that
I honestly didn't see any advantage to using it, and still have half of the bottle sitting around here some where.

I really haven't found anything that works much better than my home made mixture of mucilin paste and lighter fluid - which is what George Harvey recommends in his books

My experience has been the same as DFG. I pretreated my flies after tying them with silicone and also tried Scotchguard without seeing any advantage. I apply Mucilin or Gink after I tie on the fly and seem to have the best results.

 

[sandfly]

I use only this;

 

[fly_flinger]

Sandfly,
Do you have any of it for sale? Jack never has any when I see him and there is never any at FCO when I go there.

sandfly wrote:
I use only this;

 

[sandfly]

All out till jack makes more, I normally get about 12 -24 bottles a year then thats it for the year.

 

[jrcll]

i use rain x, works great

 

[trout_stalker]

I, too, was going to ask a question on this same subject.

I'm now reading Mike Heck's "Spring Creek Strategies" and came across this on page 117. He says "...I brush on a little water sealant like Thompson's Water Seal ... let it dry overnight ... flies float like corks and skate high..."

I was wondering if anyone had experience with this. It certainly would be cheaper, but does it come in small quantities? I certainly don't want to buy 5-gallons of the stuff. I'll have to try Rain-X suggestion.

BTW, if anyone out there uses Frog's Fanny, I found a place where you can buy it bulk. The stuff is hydrophobic fumed silica. Their Web site appears to be down right now, otherwise I'd give you the specific link. You can start here - www.epoxyproducts.com As I recall, the owner of this company even mentions the fly fishing use.

$6 for a quart bag - lifetime supply unless your bag blows away - it's very light!!! :-D

Leo

 

[dryflyguy]

jrcll wrote:
i use rain x, works great

Jim,

I believe this is a liquid that gets sprayed on your windshield to repel rain drops.
Do you apply it to your flies with it right after tying them, so that it gets a chance to dry for awhile?
Or do you coat them while fishing?

 

[pcray1231]

dryflyguy,

I think you'd use it like watershed. Put some on when you tie and let dry.

Thanks for your answers everyone! Might have to try one of the home remedies, might work better than watershed.

 

[Sylvaneous]

I use 3M fluoropolymer waterproofing spray. I put my dries in a small bottle as I tie them, then hit them with the spray and let them dry. It really helps the very most when I'm fishing and catching fish at drying and re-fishing my flies. I really like it a lot and more than other treatments.
Syl

 

[jdaddy]

trout_stalker wrote:

I'm now reading Mike Heck's "Spring Creek Strategies" and came across this on page 117. He says "...I brush on a little water sealant like Thompson's Water Seal ... let it dry overnight ... flies float like corks and skate high..."

I was wondering if anyone had experience with this. It certainly would be cheaper, but does it come in small quantities? I certainly don't want to buy 5-gallons of the stuff.

You can get smaller quantities of Thompsons Water Seal. I would be very, very surprised if Hareline Water Shed was not very closely related to Thompsons. Thompsons is almost literally water and it sucks for protecting wood, however I think it would work perfectly here. It has to be close to the same thing. I'll do some digging and find out.

 

[FiveWeight]

I've been using Camp Dry liquid silicone on my dry flies for years. soak um down let um dry. Works for me. One bottle lasts a long, long time.