sinking dhs

[rimsky]

Hi there
I bought  some palmered deer hair sedges and was expectingthem to float when i tweaked across the surface even if i move them ever so slowly they sink after the first tweak,i have tried gink but it doesnt make any differance,i thought the idea was to copy the movement of a sedge skittering across the top of the water .
                                                cheers dougie

[Wildfisher]

Dougie, a palmered Deer Hair Sedge is really an Elk Hair Caddis, or rather, all a Deer Hair Sedge is,  is an Elk Hair Caddis that has lost its hackle. 

That aside, the EHC normally floats like a cork, so what you are describing  is a bit strange unless your leader has sunk a good bit and when you pull the fly is just following the path of the leader and going under.  Can you post a photo of one of your flies?

[rimsky]

the body hackle isnt deerhair,whatsthe differance between adry and  wet dhs,i have been using flurocarbon ,will post a photo once the cameras charged
                                                 cheers dougie

[Highlander]

Are you greasing  your tippet up to the fly with Mucilin or similar. I suspect too that you are pulling the fly under. Like Alan says you don't get "wet" Deer Hair Sedges".
Tight Lines

[Moggie]

Could the simple answer be that you are not letting the gink on the body hackle dry properly before use.

Moggie.

[rimsky]

I maybe went a bit overboard with the gink and its certainly not dried yet,but i wouldnt have applied gink if it hadnt sunk when i first tried them,should i be using nylon rather than fluro i thought getting the leader to sink was important,i am trying to post photos but my camera is abit crap hopefully have some photos tonight.
                                                 cheers dougie

[rimsky]

Hi alan
thanks for replying,it does look the same apart from it has a body hackle,i bought them from ebay hopefully pics tonight,is it normal that once afly has gone subsurface it wont pop back up and float

[rimsky]

Hi Davy
i have just stuck some that i havent ginked in a basin of water and if you push them under the water they sink to the bottom,if ihave bought cheap crap flies my next question is wheres the best place to get dhs flys that float was thinking of buying flies from caithness flies they looked really good quality.back to the sinking flies the only ones that resurfaced were muddlers is that the reason muddlers were so popular,every time you pulled them they went just under the water then resurfaced must be irristable

[rimsky]

Should i go back to using maxima nylon instead of fluro but that doesnt explain why a muddler floats back to the top and adhs doesnt ginked or not just sinks, i will try tying flies this winter i have just got back into fishing after 20 years and am struggling to tie a cast never mind a fly.
                                     dougie

[Malcolm]

Rimsky,

Some deer hair isn't hollow and has to be greased to float reliably. Most dry flies will sink if pushed under the water. There are a few that don't but I personally like flies that just float and no more.

For an ultra buoyant fly - and a very good fly too there is the Balloon (Sometimes written as Ballon) sedge.