Degreasing Your Leader - August 2010 TPO Tip of the Month

[JUICE]

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[Davyfly]

Great tip is that.
Few anglers to day consider the importance of decreasing the leader system, both for sunk fly and dry fly fishing.
My preference is for a mixture of fullers earth, which is a clay, obtained in powder form mixed with dish detergent to a paste, a very old formula going way back before l learned to fly fish. Any stillwater angler worth his salt would have this to hand at all times, as often when fishing stillwaters there are times that surface tension is great and leaders will not easily sink, add this past and they will.
Likewise as Aaron points out here, leader/tippet flash can cost you fish, and so can visibility of tippet when dry fly fishing if it is on the surface and not below it.

Fuller earth is mined l believe in FL. And costs next to nothing.

May be l should make it available once again.

DW

[AaronJasper]

Davy,

I wonder who made me aware of this a few years ago? Thanks for that bit of info. When all of the little things are added up, they make a huge difference. We can add Fuller's Earth to the store if you would like. I would also like to add some of your dubbings if you wouldn't mind.

[mesanomad]

What type of dish detergent?

[Silver Creek]

I don't think the type of detergent shouldn't matter. I also don't think you need to get real "fuller's earth" which is a type of bentonite. If I correctly understand the reasons for using both detergent and fullers earth, the fine particles of fuller's earth scratch the surface of the leader removing the sheen and the detergent, as a surfactant (surface active agent), removes oil from the leader and disrupts surface tension so that the leader sinks rather than floats.

A leader floating on surface tension, displaces the water surface just like a person lying on a trampoline displaces the surface. Since the water surface under the leader is now tilted and not horizontal, this creates mini windows that the fish can see just like the legs of an insect dimple the water surface allowing the trout to detect them even though they are theoretically outside of the "window". Since the light pattern is disrupted, it can be seen by the fish that are looking up AND by the fish that are looking down, because the disrupted light pattern is displayed on the stream bottom as well. This is important in still waters and the clear slow waters of spring creek type fishing situations where the water surface is smooth. It also only important IF the fish are wary enough that this change in light pattern (either by the floating leader or by leader sheen) puts the fish off. I suspect Davy feels that since one cannot predict which fish will be put off, systematic degreasing is a way to remove one variable that can spook a fish.

Any fine clay and detergent should work since the process of "degreasing" depends on particle size alone to reduce reflectivity and not any special filtering property of bentonite. The detergent removes any residual oils from manufacturing from the leader and is the actual "degreaser". I would get some cheap non clumping kitty litter or automotive clay oil absorbent and try it with some Dawn or whatever dishwashing detergent you have.

I'd like to have Davy's perspective on my reasoning since my thoughts are purely theoretical and not based on experience. Don't go out and but kitty litter until Davy chimes in.

[wwelz]

I was a degreasing skeptic when Aaron first told me about it. I chalked it up to fly fishing superstitions. I did buy the loon Snake river mud product and threw it in my vest . I ignored it for a couple of months. I think I made an association with snake river and snake oil. One day I was fishing the Farmington with very little success and I said what to hell - I will try this stuff. My luck improved. It is impossible to say if it was due to the Snake river mud or something else but from that point on I used the stuff religiously. I will say this - my catch rate has gone up and I am catching more and bigger fish. I am a believer. I do have a question. Is it necessary to repeat the application several times a day? also on another topic I would welcome the addition of the Davy Wotton products to this site . I have a hard time finding what I need. I love the Squirrel dubbing in particular in brown and black I have had to wait weeks to get it sometimes. It is often on back order.

[Silver Creek]

On a related note, I've taken river mud and silt from where I am fishing and rubbed it into the nymphs to help mask any scents.

Also I never fill up my car with gasoline before I go fishing. I always fill up on the way home. If you do need to fill up, use a wad of paper towels to avoid transfer of any gasoline residue onto your hands.

[Silver Creek]

Having done more research on this, Fullers Earth is Calcium Bentonite.

"Litter clumps were first developed in the UK in the 1950s by the Fuller's Earth Union (FEU), later to become a part of Laporte Industries Ltd. The type of clumping litter developed by the FEU was calcium bentonite, a less swelling and less sticky type than American bentonite. "


"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litter_box

However, in the USA most clumping cat litter is Sodium bentonite. Pestell cat litter is 100% sodium bentonite.

http://www.pestell.com/petlitter.php

Oil Dri for garage floors is fullers earth.

"Oil-Dri’s owns and operates clay mining & manufacturing facilities in several States in the U.S. Our granular Floor Absorbent products are manufactured from several different varieties of clay, a natural earth mineral. The different varieties we manufacture are also frequently referred to as Fuller’s Earth. One product produced by our Canadian sister company, Oil-Dri Canada, is clay blended with another natural mineral (a proprietary ingredient) due to Canadian regulatory requirements. With the exception of our Canadian produced product, mentioned above, the Floor Absorbent products are 100% natural kiln dried clay and have nothing added to them."

http://icemeltchicago.com/Oil%20Dri%...DS%20Sheet.pdf

[AaronJasper]

Lots of people ask if they can use mud from a stream bank. You can, but you better be 100% sure that there are no particulates in it besides the dirt. Small bits of rocks and minerals are extremely abrasive and can fray your leader. The only way to be sure that does not happen is to purchase the right stuff.

[Magnet]

So Silver, do you think if I took some cat liter, mortar it into Powder , mix in some detergent I would be able to use that?