High riding fly floatant

"I love the smell of napalm in the morning." That was the first thing that ran through my mind when Bill Dryflyguy shared with me his fly floatant. See we were on the Little J and Dryflyguy was kind enough to put me into a good spot on the water. He even shared with me his sulphur fly that he matched with the hatch coming off at the time. The big treat was the addition of some of his fly flotant.

He broke out this little bottle and offered to give the fly a little extra life on the water. I am always up for something new and took him up on the offer. Bill quickly explained that this was based on old recipe of lighter-fluid and Mucilin Paste. I thought it may be prudent to hold off on that evening cigar until things dried off.

If you are not familiar, Mucilin Paste is a both a line and dry fly dressing that is found in most every fly shop in the world. A staple on its own for many.

I gave my sulphur a ride that night and my fly stayed up probably 4 times longer than with my normal choices of Gink or Frog's Fanny. It really worked well. The fishing was pretty damn good too.

Bill and I took a little time to discuss the recipe that actually has been around for quite some time. George Harvey has been closely connected to putting this together.

Quickly after the trip I rounded up some [d]napalm[/d] lighter-fluid and red Mucilin. It is pretty easy to put this together with about an ounce of lighter-fluid and Mucilin. Not much Mucilin needed and too much will just leave a white film on the fly. So start off with a 1/4 teaspoon and mix it up. It will mix in after a bit. A good container with a tight lid is a probably the most important part of the equation.

You can test a few flies before you go out flyfishing and as I did with Bill while on the stream. Comments and ideas welcome.

Light em up if you got em! Well only after your fly dries first.

 

Is he holding some sort of automatic reel in the picture with Nixon? Who'd a thought that a President of the United States would fish with such pedestrian gear.

 

Would have thought he would have been outfitted with a high end bamboo rod, Orvis CFO or equivalent, etc. Like you said, maybe that kind of stuff ended up elsewhere. Any idea if Ike ever fished the local streams around Gettysburg, particularly the Conewago or maybe FSB? Thanks for the interesting read Dave. Never heard that the iconic pre D-Day photo included a talk about fly fishing.

 

Gfen,
I noticed that too and scrutinized the picture - the reel is mounted flat side against the reel seat. I don't know if it's an automatic.

Mcsneek,
Ike fished around here but I haven't seen any info that he fished in Adams County specifically other than the small fishing pond he had out at the farm which no longer exists. He might have fished Conewago up in the upper section which was, and still is, popular private club water. He did fish down in the Catoctin area just below the state line, probably due to the proximity to Camp David.

 

Could that be a classic ReeLever Automatic?

ReeLever Fly Reel

Back in that period of time, technology was making inroads in the fine sport of fishing. Spinning gear -- a new concept at the time imported from our WWII visit to France -- was becoming mainstream and the automatic fly reel was seen as one of the latest and greatest advances in flyfishing.

It would make sense the President would be sporting that "advanced" gear. And it makes further sense that he was in Colorado, the birthplace of Tuttle's ReeLever.

 

G-Ghost,
I think you nailed it! I tried to blow up the pic a bit and although I can't see the large lever arm, it does have a large slit on the side of the reel housing just as the ReeLever does. It certainly does appear to be some type of automatic. Thanks.

Ike certainly wasn't prone to buying the most expensive high end stuff. If you've visited his home, you know he lived modestly. He owned some nice guns but nothing really high end. The collection in storage has a S&W revolver, a couple Winchester 94s (some were customized gifts given to him) and a couple O/U shotguns the make and model I can't remember.

 

David,

Again thanks for the great post. Big Hunting Creek is less than two miles from Camp David. It is a currently a stocked stream and a popular spot for fly fishing in the area. I would imagine Ike could have spent some time there back in the day.

 

I know Ike had at least two Payne rods. One was a Payne 100. This was one of two identical rods commissioned by H. Meade Alcorn through Clapp & Treat. Merritt Treat sold the business to Edward Ruestow in Connecticut. Clapp & Treat were at one time agents for Payne. Alcorn, who would become National Chairman of the Republican Party asked Merritt to have Jim Payne build a rod similar to the Payne 100 to present to Eisenhower as a gift. Merritt also asked Jim Payne to build a duplicate rod. Both rods were received with one given to Eisenhower. The rod is tagged as a 3-3/8 ounce 100 on one side with “M.W. Treat” inked on the other side. The tube and bag are original with the bag also having MW Treat Hartford Ct inked on it.

The other was a 7’ two piece and probably a Payne 97 or 98. This one is in “fair condition” with only one tip and is located at the Eisenhower museum in Abilene. While not on display, the rod was confirmed by Dennis Medina who was curator of the museum up until a couple of years ago.

I also understand there is an Orvis, probably a Model 99 at the American Museum of Fly Fishing.

Thanks for posting this David, interesting stuff to know about.

 

The guy who gave me those glass rods that I wrote about in the equipment section was a student at Penn State when Ike's brother was president. While he was there, Milton taught a fly tying and fishing class, which my friend took (its where he learned to fish and tie). Their final exam was to tie a fly. He said Milton would have a big bucket at the end of the semester w/ flies in it that students tied and my friend *HEARD* that Ike came in to see his bro, and asked him for some flies. Milton supposedly reached into the bucket, grabbed a handful of flies and gave them to Ike. My friend gets very excited telling this story because he's convinced one of those flies was his final exam tie!

 

Sasquatch,
What an extraordinary story! I knew about Milton at PSU (he was also pres of Johns Hopkins and, I believe, another school in the mid-west). Milton liked fishing too but I didn't know about the fly fishing class. I wonder if he did this in conjunction with George Harvey? I'll have to go back to Dan Shields book and see if this is noted. Whatever the case, it's a really neat story about the "final exam" part.

(Not to mention a university president who actually has time to interact with students rather than just go fundraising and hobnob with politicos and doners)

 

Yeah I thought it was a cool story! Times were different in the 50s I guess. There was an article in Eastern Flyfishing this month about Ike and Spring Creek I believe. It reminded me of my friend's story, and then this popped up.

 

is Nixon wearing a vest? You are talking about a guy who used to walk the beaches in San Clemente wearing wing tips!

 

Nixon looks so grumpy...

 

I own 5 4 weight rods soyeah more then 7.

 

I can't believe how many rod addicts there are out there!!!

 

I marked 7+ because there is no spot for 25+ :-o

 

I guess you need at least 2 rods for everything you fish for! :-o

 

I have at least 7 now and probably not done yet

 

20+ 4wt to 13 wt

GC

 

And I'm one of them - 40+. Started on graphite and now going "back" to cane & glass. But I don't hold a candle to a friend of mine who has several hundred. I'm definitely either a hoarder or a collector.

 

After 25 years of bait dipping I switched over to fly fishing. I only have 6 fly rods over 5 years but I'm sure in 20 more years my fly rod collection will compare to my spinning rods. I only have about 25+ of those.