Adding floatation to your flys
Above: #16 Fall Caddis Emerger with a Kapok dubbed thorax topped with a
mixture of Beaver Belly and Awesome Possum.
Muskrats, otters, ducks, minks, beavers, and even polar bears have underfur that is waterproof and acts as a life jacket, keeping them very buoyant. Logic tells us that if we treat flies like Mother Nature treats her semi-aquatic furry friends, then we should engineer them the same way. Building up a buoyant underbody on my flies is something I often do, especially for thorax flies, as well as emergers and adult dry flies. You will not usually hear this conversation in the fly-tying world, primarily because everyone is caught up in silhouette, proportion, techniques, and so on. Let's discuss flotation.
Creating underbodies built up with Kapok initially will better float your fly even after multiple hook-ups. I don't worry about the color of the Kapok because I'm covering it up with subsequent layers of dubbing. It's a simple step that will make your fly float much better. Let's face it, one built-up layer of hare's ear on a dry is just not going to perform the way I want it to.
Here is an example of a typical thorax built up with Kapok. Next comes a 1:1 mixture of Beaver Belly and Awesome Possum. With these two layers plus the CDC loop wing, this fly will float like a cork after multiple strikes and hook-ups.
I have always said to my students that I typically don't use dubbing straight out of the package without mixing it with another type of fur or synthetic. By blending your own dubbing, you're giving yourself a leg up on achieving specific colors, values, and buoyancy. The above photo shows the two types of underfur I use on top of a layer of Kapok.
Here is the exact same fly as shown above with the finished layer of dubbing. Below the gestural layer of Awesome Possum and Beaver Belly remains a simple yet highly effective life jacket of Kapok.
Whether it's an adult caddis, a mayfly emerger, a thorax-style comparadun, or a hopper, Kapok allows you to dub an initial life jacket that acts as a buoyancy compensator, like divers use. No production flies out there; take any of this into account when dumped into retailers' fly bins. So, if you tie your own flies, it's a straightforward intermediate step that will provide you with the confidence that your fly will float much better and outperform anything you could ever buy in a shop.
Thanks for letting me share~ Clint Bova
