Staying on Top

Keep your flies floating where the fish want them by using today’s flotants in the most effective ways.

In 1886, Frederic Halford, that fan of the floating fly, merely replaced his sodden fly for a fresh, dry one. “When new, the fly, of course, floats naturally, and the first throw with a new fly should accordingly be made with the greatest care, as the most likely to tempt a fish….” A wetted fly, “must not be returned to the water, but thoroughly dried by making a series of false casts backwards and forwards in the air, so as to free the hackle, wings and body of all moisture.”

To further aid flotation, Halford often over-hackled his patterns for the smooth, slow chalk streams of southern England. His advice was “to put plenty of turns of hackle on all patterns for use by the dry-fly fisherman.” Even his cast—an underhanded, horizontal cast—was calculated to gently drop the pattern on the water. Eventually, however, every dry fly became a soppy fly. And Halford needed a longer float.

Some “fly floaters” had already found a solution. The first flotants were petroleum oils and red-deer fat, an early dressing for fly line. In 1882, only four years before Halford’s soggy fly, David Foster advocated Vaseline, a petroleum jelly developed a decade earlier.

“The use of paraffin oil and Vaseline as an aid to the floating power of an artificial is modern, and that is really, as a matter of fact, the only new feature in the art of ‘dry flying’ for trout and grayling.”

Vaseline increased fly buoyancy and was far superior to petroleum oils, which some anglers used and recommended. Foster further concluded that even North Country hackle flies—the soft-hackled flies—may be floated with “a touch of Vaseline or paraffin on the body and parts of the hackle under the body.”

 By 1902, paraffin (kerosene) became standard. Frederic Halford noted “The use of paraffin for this purpose was known and practiced for years by a few of the Upper Test fishermen, and told in confidence by one of them to the late [Mr. Thomas Andrews of Guilford].” Halford convinced Andrews to get permission to divulge this secret for the benefit of all dry-fly anglers. Halford concluded that “the use of the paraffin bottle has appreciably altered…the labour of drying the fly.” Eight years later, Halford acknowledged that “the advantage of the use of paraffin is so obvious that few dry-fly men in the present age would think their outfit complete without the paraffin bottle and brush.”

By 1909, Hardy Brothers of England advertised bottled paraffin oils for baptizing flies. Even today, inveterate angler and tackle inventor John Betts recommends and uses refined lamp oil (a kerosene) for floating patterns made of natural materials. It is odorless, inexpensive and effective.

Before the advent of powder desiccants, amadou—the European hoof-shaped fungus used as a desiccant in surgeries—dried soggy flies. In 1935, writer G. E. M. Skues praised amadou. “Dry fly men who know what is good for them use it for drying flies…Wet and mangled May flies washed and then dried with it resume their pristine youth and beauty. Amadou quadruples the life of an ordinary May fly.”

Hardy Brothers marketed the Drifly Dresser with leaves of amadou and paraffin-soaked felt. An angler merely pressed the fly between the leaves to dry and dress it. Amadou  is still an effective material for drying drenched fly patterns.

After World War II, silicone came to favor as a fly flotant. Kenneth Mansfield, in the Art of Angling (1957), records its entry into angling. “Most people anoint their dry flies with paraffin or some similar lubricant to assist flotation, but I dislike this practice myself because it makes a sad mess of the hackles….The new Silicone preparations, however, are free from this disadvantage as they are not oily and quickly evaporate, leaving the fly with an invisible waterproof coat,” he wrote. Mansfield lamented the fact that silicone sold “in minute quantities at exorbitant prices.” He also cautioned against over-application, as “any overdose of grease results in emulsification.”

Today you can choose from silicone beads, pastes, gels and liquids to powders and fine “fumes.” In desperation I have used Chap Stick for flotant, and some enterprising merchants have sold Abolene skin cream as flotant. Whatever works, you might say….

Using Flotant
Some fly patterns, such as those with foam, cork or CDC (cul de canard), may require no flotant at all; but most require an effective application. All silicones, particularly paste, should be applied sparingly before wetting the fly. Liquid flotants require sufficient drying time before fishing. ... Read More »


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