went on a stretch of river near me today to practice casting with flies on water.. water was slow flowing

bit let down actually.

first off EVERY dry fly i used sank Now i have ordered some floatant ( gink) , do dries need treating before use ? first cast was ok after that it gradually got worse till they were simply sinking the minute they hit the water .

im on #5wf floating line but noticed the braided loop was pulling the tip of the mainline down into the water a few inches , dragging on the fly..

leader, 9 foot, butt is .55mm mono . if that's any help

any thoughts appreciated


billy

Let down? Disappointed obviously!

Yes, dries need to be treated before you use them - best use Watershed at home and then use Gink at the waterside.

Braided loops can cause the tip of your line to sink ... give them and the first few feet of your line a smear with Red Mucilin.

Dragging the fly? Now there's a thing. Drag is something we all need to avoid / minimise. A longer leader, a lighter tippet, and the ability to employ a slack line cast / mend is something you need to investigate.

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Some people treat their flies the night before with stuff like watershed,but if you only want to treat a certain part of the fly this becomes a problem.When you attached the loop did you seal the end of the line with say a waterproof glue or varnish?,also you could try rubbing something like permagrease into the loop and along a couple of ft of line which will help it float.
Neil

It's not just the floatant - once the fly is saturated it will need an element of drying. a couple of vigorous false casts should whizzz some of the water out. You can also try 'dry fly desiccant' to absorb some of the water.

Braided loops do start to sink and they will pull your leader down. Was the end of the line sealed before the loop was put on? water can track up the line (inside) and make it somewhat 'sinky'.

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Time is a stream I go fishing in.

i didn't seal the end of the line , so there may be one of the probs.



lighthouse, i didn't mean drag in way you mean.. i mean the braided loop and bit of main line was sinking pulling the fly back towards the main line ,

because the fly was all but saturated the small but sufficient pull of the line/loop through sinking was nudging the fly enough to sink it again.

You can solve that - remove the loop - snip the tip of the line and hang it... say over landing or top of a shelf so that moisture tracks back down over a couple of days - seal with superglue and fit a new loop. Then treat with Mucilin.

If there is water pressure against the fly i.e. drag... it will go under.

__________________
Time is a stream I go fishing in.

Yes most dry flies need treating to make them float.

There is a current thread asking about this. Here's the cure:

Floatant - which one?

Why did you use a braided loop? You would have no problem with leader or fly line tip if you did the things advised here:

Dry Fly 'Expert': Leader linguistics, tippet talk and tips...

Keeping the fly afloat is examined here:

Dry Fly 'Expert': "Dry" Fly?


It's all explained and much more in that blog, which starts here:

Dry Fly 'Expert': Before it's too late, eh?

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..."

Some good advice there


Cheers
Spencer

well , many people seem to use them and its an easy way for a beginner to go.. i could tie a leader directly to the main line using a needle knot but the diameter of the end of the #5 line doesn't look like it could take a leader diameter of the sort of size i have on my shop bought leaders.

i just had a quick look around , i have just tried a surgeons loop on the actual fly line , nice and small , would this be a better option than a braided loop ?? just tried in the sink , it floats great and even the knot /loop doesn't sink.

Hi,

New to fly fishing like yourself. I had trouble with the braided loop first time I went out on the water so I decided to just tye the leader to the line using a nail knot. It helped me no end with casting (maybe as there wasnt so much clobber at the end of the fly line) I didnt get in as many tangles either. and i actually managed to catch a little grayling which was nice.

I do understand why people use loops but for me I wasnt wanting to change the leader often, I just wanted to be able to cast and fish.

All the problems you mentioned in your OP I had the same i.e. sinking tip of line, dry going under etc.

I still managed to get my fair share of tangles though, made it easier to get out of when with no braided loop too.