Newcomer to silk fly fishing

[Muscarit]

Hi, this is my first time posting on this forum! I would like to start fishing with silk fly lines and by reading the post on this subject I found that a good choice will be to buy from Peche a soie. I have read the instructions they provide on their website in which they state that you cannot use mucilin (both types, not just the green one which contains silicon) and my question is if anyone which posses such a silk fly line have broken this rule or which alternative has found for dressing-other provider or homemade recipe?
Thank you in advance!

[NewUtahCaneAngler]

Check your PM in upper right hand corner.

[jhuskey]

A product called Otter Butter

[BigTJ]

I use otter butter on mine too. Been about 4 years now. I use the stuff they sent with the line as fly floatant.

John

[lloyd3]

The Otter Butter was a revelation for me (wish it had been developed sooner). My lines float far-longer than with the traditional Red Muclin (4-5 hours versus 2-3 hours in some cases). Otter Butter has brought silk lines into the modern age IMHO. They aren't nearly the liability or even the work they once were.

[BigTJ]

Since I started using otter butter I’ve never had to swap a line end for end, and that includes days that I have fished 10 or 12 hours.

[Muscarit]

Thank you all for the answers, so the best dressing to use will be Otter Butter

[Muscarit]

How much time can use a single one?

[BigTJ]

Are you asking how long a tin lasts? It depends on how much you fish. If you fish silk a few times a year it will last many many years. If you fish 100 days a year with silk, maybe a 2 years. You don’t have to treat the whole line every time, just the part you are using.

John

[BSAGuy]

Just wanted to welcome you here, Muscrait. good luck with your silk journey. That is on my to do list also.

[lloyd3]

Muscrait: in the FWIW collumn.....many of the blue-collar classic rods were made to be used with silk lines (their smaller line guides are a clue), silk is 1/3 the diameter of modern plastic lines and yet has 3 times the density. Silk floats on top of the water by repelling it and comes off in a cast much more smoothly than a modern line (that floats with buoyancy), and finally... silk is less affected by wind and currents because of its density and diameter advantages over modern line. Try it, you'll probably like it (as will your rod).

[Muscarit]

Just wanted to welcome you here, Muscrait. good luck with your silk journey. That is on my to do list also.

Thank you! I hope you will use soon such a fly line!

[Godfroy]

I think silk is about 2/3 the diameter of an equivalent plastic line and roughly 1.5 times as dense.

[lloyd3]

Godfroy: 25-years or so ago that wasn't the case. The newer flylines are much better than what we were dealing with in the 80s & 90s. I suspect that the plastics used then were fatter (to allow for more buoyancy). My Thebault lines (from Olaf Borge, the silk line whore!) were much thinner than any Cortland 444s available. The difference was night and day (& no bunching-up in the line guides of the '50s era rods!).



Fish were fatter then too(!) at least in Wyoming.

[BigTJ]

Godfroy: 25-years or so ago that wasn't the case. The newer flylines are much better than what we were dealing with in the 80s & 90s. I suspect that the plastics used then were fatter (to allow for more buoyancy). My Thebault lines (from Olaf Borge, the silk line whore!) were much thinner than any Cortland 444s available. The difference was night and day (& no bunching-up in the line guides of the '50s era rods!).



Fish were fatter then too(!) at least in Wyoming.

If you measure your Thebaults and corresponding plastic lines you will find Godfroy is right. I have 10 of them and most are nowhere near 1/3 the diameter of a plastic lines, which I have from the 80’s through recent day. Plastic line diameters haven’t changed much if at all in the past 40 years when comparing lines of the same weight. The difference from memory between plastic and silk is in the order of 10-15 thou on a 40-55 thou line (trout sizes). At the tip end the difference are typically greater - it can be closer to 50% - but I’ve never measured and part of a silk line anywhere close to 33% of an equivalent plastic line diameter. If one pulls out a micrometer I’m confident they won’t either.

John

[Flykuni3]

Since I started using otter butter I’ve never had to swap a line end for end, and that includes days that I have fished 10 or 12 hours.

What’s in Otter Butter that makes it so good?

[RMorrison]

Bits of real Otter…

[BigTJ]

Since I started using otter butter I’ve never had to swap a line end for end, and that includes days that I have fished 10 or 12 hours.

What’s in Otter Butter that makes it so good?

Without spilling the beans completely, which would be disrespectful to the originator of the formula who has shared candid info with me by PM, Otter Butter’s unique mix of mineral-based and natural waxes are less tacky and have more staying power than traditional animal-fat based products.

Maybe get a tin and try it compared to red mucilin (or equivalent) and decide for yourself. For me it was no contest.

Snake oil by Jaime at Zen is pretty good too, although my experience with it is far more limited.

Cheers,

John

PS thankfully Rich no real otters were harmed in the making of their namesake butter!!

[RMorrison]

Well that’s a relief!!

[Godfroy]

When I am fishing with plastic lines I use Otter Butter on my furled leaders. Paul.