? on keeping dry's floating?

[bmc]

A buddy and I went out to a local stocked trout lake last night and trolled spinners and small rapalas. Lots of trout surfacing out there and tiny, tiny flying bugs coming off the water. This lake is a mine pit, about 300' deep in the middle and cone shaped. The rainbows in here average about 10-12". I've always had a hard time keeping my dry fly's floating. What's the secret? I've used floatant on them but maybe too much, too heavy of a leader, do I need to be using floating fly line if I'm fishing dry's? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Brian

[EatSleepFish]

If you are currently using a sink-tip or fully sinking fly line, yes, a floating fly line would do the trick.

[Nate McVey]

I use Gink and have never had a problem with it weighing down the fly. Just put a drop in your palm and work the fly into it, that way you get a good even consistency.

[Quickstrike]

I swear you could cover your self in gink and it would work better than a life jacket!

[turiprap]

When you switch from spinners to flies do you use a fly rod? Sounds like a dumb question, but there are plastic bubbles that will allow anglers to cast flies with spinning equipment. If you're using a bubble with a spinning rod, you'll need to get a spool of leader tippet material to attach to your spinning line. If you are using a fly rod, yes you definitely need a floating line and a conventional dry fly leader. Fluorocarbon sinks, so use monofilament. The terminal end of the leader should be no larger than 4X (.007") and finer might be better. Gink or its equivalents are fine. However, make sure the fly to which you apply the floatant is fully dry, otherwise you'll simply seal moisture in and the fly will still not float well. I bet a twelve inch rainbow with room to run, as it would have in a pit lake, would be a blast on a fly rod. Good luck!

[so haaad]

I'm guessing your problem is coming from a sinking tip line. Get a floating line. Also, throwing a couple of false casts will also "dry" your flies out a little more than just the quick pick-up-and-put-down method.