Fly Fishing

GreenHighlander · Posted: Thu 01/14/10 9:09 am Post subject: Fly Floatant: Does WD40 Work?

Anyone tried spraying WD40 on dry flies?
Does it work?

stoneyfly · Location: Rocky Mountains

Wouldn't it leave a bad oil slick? I will stick with Frog Fanny

kory_k · Location: New York, NY

I know guys who spray it on their worms when ice fishing Very Happy

Boz · Location: Portland

Walleye anglers on Lake Erie used to spray it on Rattletraps (crankbaits)...said it helped increase hookups.
Weird.

stoneyfly · Location: Rocky Mountains

It is illegal on artificial waters. It is an added scent. I personally fly fish only and scent is a no no.
Not sure it would even come close to making a good floatant, I think it might do the opposite.

AvidDavid · Location: Long Island, NY

I apologize, up front, for being such a nerd.

To answer the original question... Yes it works... The dry flies no longer squeak.

WD-40 is, I believe, pulverized graphite suspended in a very light oil or perhaps in a more volatile organic substance. In either case, I believe that the liquid is a petroleum product.

I believe that the purpose of fly floatant is one of two things:

1) attempting to keep the fly very dry by absorbing moisture so that the natural, dry fly materials will not adhere [hydrophillically] to water (rather they will repel water [hydrophobically]) As an aside... when you put clean water in a glass container, the surface of the water is drawn up at the interface where the water meets the glass. This is because the glass is hydrophillic (the water "likes" to adhere to the glass). If you put water on a newly waxed car, the water beads up because the surface that has just had a waxy coating put on it is hydrophobic (the water "dislikes" adhering to the waxy surface). {If you wax the inside of a glass, the meniscus will go the other way, avoiding the waxed surface.} Flies that are hydrophobic (and not too heavy) will interact with the water such the the water tries to "bead up" and stay away from the fly. This helps the fly to float. If the fly is hydrophillic, the water tries to consume the fly thus pulling it underwater. Weight will help sink a fly, as well, even if the fly is hydrophobic. Feathers are relatively hydrophobic They act to keep birds dry and tend to be a little oily (oil is the classic hydrophobic agent). Dry powdery floatant, I believe, is designed to absorb water and restore the fly's natural hydrophobicity (and decrease its weight).

2) attempting to treat the fly so that it remains hydrophobic by treating the fly with a hydrophobic substance that lightly coats the materials with a water-disliking layer. Floatants that you treat the flies with and then allow them to dry overnight prior to use are generally attempting to make the fly's materials more hydrophobic.

WD-40 is a suspension in a hydrophobic solution. The solution, if filtered to remove the graphite, might work to make materials more hydrophobic if allowed to dry for a long period of time. I suspect that the light oil (I think it is a light oil) may not dry quickly and would therefore be more prone to being rinsed off of the materials when dunked in copious amounts of water (my typical backcast pulls the fly underwater and washes the floatant off). Now, for the graphite... I think that the graphite (carbon powder - hexagonal-closest packing - NOT - diamond-like) is relatively hydrophillic and will easily wet. In addition, its small radius of curvature (small diameter balls) is more likely to lead to wetting the materials (if I am right about the hydrophillicity.)

So to sum up... the light oil may help float the fly, the graphite probably doesn't help and nobody wants to pollute our pristine waters with petroleum products. Anybody that uses it as flotant "ain't got no scents!" Save the WD-40 for squeeky hinges and nuts/bolts that won't budge... and maybe for the rattletraps for walleyes?

Apologetically,
AvidDavid

FishTank · Location: NE PA

I haven't tried this but heard it works...

Put some Rain-x{the wind shield stuff to cause water to bead} into a shot glass. Drop your flies into the Rain-x and let the soak for a bit. Take them out and let them dry on paper towels. You're good to go.

Cool

GreenHighlander · Posted: Thu 02/11/10 6:07 pm Post subject:

Dear AvidDavid,
thanks for your illuminating reply, however I'm afraid you're misinformed in one respect. The company bumph claims that WD40 is made from fish oil - and is used with great success on sea fishing lures - which was what got me thinking about it in the first place. Once dry, it would be water repellent, if any residual odour remained it would not be offensive to the fish and it would be harmless to fauna. So since it's something one carries in the boat anyway I wondered if fly floating might be one of the "2000 uses" advertised on the can.
I respect the good advice given in this thread, however, and rest assured I won't be experimenting with it; at least for flies.
Thanks all.

wjkosmer · Posted: Thu 02/11/10 6:52 pm Post subject:

I had to jump in on this thread, and as the guy before said..."not to be a nerd", but i deal with this stuff for a living. WD-40 is about 50% Stoddard Solvent and should NOT be put anywhere near water you don't want to contaminate. The material safety data sheet can be found here http://www.wd40.com/files/pdf/msds-wd494716385.pdf It is NOT made of fish oil, this is a myth.

stoneyfly · Location: Rocky Mountains

GreenHighlander · Posted: Fri 02/12/10 3:17 am Post subject:

I stand corrected. Apologies, David.

AvidDavid · Location: Long Island, NY

GreenHighlander:

No apology necessary. To the contrary... I am excited to see all the responses generated. (I feel like I usually shut down conversations here at F&F.)

It's interesting that there seems to be folk-lore/myth attributing the oil to fish. I wasn't aware of that! Could it still be true? If petroleum is "fossil fuel" then what if some of the fossils were fish? (wink-wink, nod-nod)

I am still intrigued by Kory's comment about the benefits of spraying WD-40 on "your" worm for ice fishing.

Dave

greg · Posted: Sat 02/13/10 11:24 am Post subject: WD40

Over the years I have sprayed WD40 on all kinds of movable and rusted parts. I once worked on an old Eastern rigged dragger. We hung up on ledge and parted the yolk, short version we were going down! no main pumps and a broken small pump would not start do to a faulty wire. I sprayed it with WD40 and found it to be a great conductor of electricity. WD40 saved 8 souls from a cold end. This said, NO! I would not spray it on my flies or a De icer for my guides or anywhere near lines or leader. I love the stuff!!

Shakeyfly · Location: MA

i apologize, but doesn't that pollute the water? if it does, please use it on your own private pond. my lakes and rivers are struggling enough!!! Shocked

gunner · Location: Monmouth, ME & Hudson, FL

720fly · Location: sweet Summit Colorado

OK my first post here. But if you use wd-40 your hurting the fish --- if you use it on a hole real hard & come back in a few weeks you will see many cracked lips

Hello yall from Colorado

AvidDavid · Location: Long Island, NY

OK, 720fly, I've got to ask... Is this "cracked lip" affliction something that you have seen or are you predicting that this would happen? Most of the posts, to date, have been supposition. If you have actual experience, it would be very enlightening.

stoneyfly · Location: Rocky Mountains

I am not new to fly fishinf but learn new stuff every trip, but just in my experience, nothing floats a fly constantly IF fish are hitting it. Even stripping it back through the water is going to water log it somewhat.

My choice that works well form me is Mucilin red for my furled leaders, Dry Magic and Frog Fanny on flies, because I do use some CDC flies and these two floatants work great on CDC. I have used a lot of paste floatant and Tiemco Dry Magic is awesome.