First time out with the fly rod (weber)

[Jonthecook]

Had some spare time this weekend, so i decided to go out on the weber and try fly fishing for the first time. I only lost 3 flies to bushes and trees , and only saw one little guy take a snap at my fly (which i promptly missed because i had too much slack out there). All in all, it was a great learning experience, and i believe that next time i go out, i will be much much improved.
One thing i noticed is that i couldn't keep my fly floating for very long. I had some spray that i bought at walmart that i was using, that sort of worked, but are there any better products out there?
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[RiverHag]

The best floatant, imo, is Frog's Fanny. It is a powder called Hydrophobic Fumed Cilica. You can buy that powder in bulk on Ebay and refill the bottle.

Glad you enjoyed your first go.
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[OldTroller]

Great on ya for getting out. There are lots of dry fly floatants and frogs is among the best and youtube will help you learn how to apply it.

And Riverhag, do you have a link to the ebay store to buy the refill?
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[remo_5_0]

[quote Jonthecook]Had some spare time this weekend, so i decided to go out on the weber and try fly fishing for the first time. I only lost 3 flies to bushes and trees , and only saw one little guy take a snap at my fly (which i promptly missed because i had too much slack out there). All in all, it was a great learning experience, and i believe that next time i go out, i will be much much improved.
One thing i noticed is that i couldn't keep my fly floating for very long. I had some spray that i bought at walmart that i was using, that sort of worked, but are there any better products out there?[/quote]

Nice job on getting out, as for the floating fly issue, use a good floatant but also make sure you make some false casts to dry it off and make sure to keep your line mended as not to drag the fly which will make it sink.
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[Joe_Dizzy]

[quote Jonthecook]

One thing i noticed is that i couldn't keep my fly floating for very long.

[/quote]

Welcome to the addiction Jon.

In my experience, a lot of folks new to fly fishing tend to have too much line out which presents a problem with drag. Especially with dries, stream hydraulics dictate that the line will form a "belly" and pull the line downstream, drowning a floating fly.

The key to any dead drift presentation is mending the line to battle against drag. This is effectively lobbing a countering belly of line upstream to prolong the drift, unaffected. Specific water conditions dictate how much, and how many mends are required.

For me this was the hardest part to wrap my brain around when I first started fly fish... "What to do with all this line on the water?" You'll pick it up pretty quick with practice.

FWIW - I fish a lot of dry flies and don't use any floatant... no problems.
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[RiverHag]

Here is one that I got. I have actually bought twice and still have a lot of refills to go, even after a year. I have six of the bottles I keep filled in my vest so I never run out streamside. There are other, cheaper one's on ebay, but I know this guy is good. I'm sure the others are fine as well. You can search "quart fly floatant." And find them.

Here is the link to the one I bought.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fumed-Silica-Fly...3399c4deb7
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[cpierce]

Hydrophobic fumed silica is an epoxy additive. It is sold as a thickener by many different epoxy and fiberglass chemical suppliers.

Here is one: EpoxyUSA
http://www.epoxyusa.com/category_s/4.htm

2 quarts of fumed silica for $17.

Yes, I have bought it, and it works well.
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[sinergy]

Forget the floatant, (at least for now ) learn to go deep, as in deep water nymphing or bottom bouncing. In my opinion learning to roll cast,properly mending your line and line management will make dry fly fishing that much easier.
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