Is there any advantage/disadvantage in 'Ginking' flies hours or even days before use? Does the stuff evaporate or dry out and become useless?

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When I was younger, I was a dirty old man.

I always gink my flies the night before, I don't like putting a freshly ginked fly in the water, mines float just fine ;-)

A spray on silicon waterproofer works well applied 24 hours before use.

BK

It still works but in recent weeks I have been treating flies 24 hours ahead with Water Shed as recommended on here. The difference is quite marked. No more proofing needed at the waterside. A soaked fly can either be false cast dry or better still dried in amadou and there is the fly, as new and ready to float and float and float!

Water Shed lives on the the fly tying bench not in the tackle bag.

richard

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Who resides on the right bank of the Derbyshire Wye and is lulled to sleep each night by the mutterings of a weir, dreaming that "When the rivers and their inhabitants come first, we ALL win..."

Spray on silicons and Watershed is great if you always need a high floating fly.However if you require a lower sitting,half in/half out presentation ,gel floatants then come into their own because you can apply it to the part of the fly you need to float.

To answer the original question,I dont think it does evaporate over time but I dont see any advantage in pre-ginking in advance.Use it very sparingly and you wont get too much of a slick running off the flies.

Until I'm at the water and able to assess the conditions, and the ever-changing behaviour of the trout, I really don't know what flies or methods I'll be using, so pre-conditioning of the flies I'll eventually use isn't a real option.

Sometimes I'll actually want a dry fly (selected at the water's edge) to sit just under the surface, other time's I'll want a big blousy fly to act as a strike-indicator for a buzzer below, until the trout are ready for sucking things off the top, sometimes I'll want just half the fly above the water.

Ginking at the water's edge seems to do the job, at least until it gets slimed!

I gink all mine at the fly tying bench and if used (especially if caught a fish), re-gink when I get home after the fly has dried out.

Most of my patterns are parachute style so sit in the film anyway, however if using a palmered fly, I nearly always trim the hackle underneath to show the hook point and lower its profile in the water.

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Just My Tuppenceworth!!