Why is my fly sinking

[skiltonian]

Freshly tied up with a hackle stacker and it sinks. Could it be the hackle? Hook too heavy?

 

[JimNovo]

It's a 2x heavy hook. That doesn't help.

 

[Patroutfly]

Use a dry fly hook

 

[jeffroey]

First of all, nice tie. A couple of observations:

It looks like it's tied as an emerger and if so, it should sink. At least half way.

Looks like the hackle is hen hackle? A little webby and will hold some water.

There could be a couple of things you can try:

I've gotten in the habit of dipping my dry flies in Rain-X and letting them fully dry before adding them to my box. It does make a huge difference.

So does a few extra false casts, an amadou patch once it starts slipping below the surface, or a fly banjo. I have one of them on every bag I carry.

 

[skiltonian]

Thanks all, I was tying up nymphs, found the saddle I didn’t know I had, and tied a few and tested them. I know nothing about hackle. I’ll look up hen hackle patterns and use it for wets.

 

[JimNovo]

First...thats a beautiful tie!!!

Second, I have found that "hackle stackers" are not the floatiest fly in the world but do great as emergers that sit in the film.

So my recommendation is to tie the exact same fly but on a dry fly hook. Add a touch of gel floatant to the hackle only, and watch the fish eat!!

 

[Kms]

Flies float because they’re either lighter than water and sit in the water, or they sit on the surface of the water supported by surface tension. Poppers and other foam heavy bugs are the former, dry flies with fine, stiff hackle are the latter. Good discussion here:

How Dry Flies Float

I wrote this as a reply on another BB when a person asked about using more bouyant (SG

www.theflyfishingforum.com

 

[ROVERT]

I fish hacklestackers more than any other fly. I would say the two main reasons for this is that I like tying them and they float so well with the body in the film. I suspect it is combination of hook and hackle issues. Try a dry fly hook and some stiffer hackle. I tie mine with dry fly saddles.

As far as floatant goes, I start with the gel. When it gets wet, I dry and treat with hydrophobic fumed silica.

You should be able to catch a lot of fish on a hacklestacker and keep the hackle floating and easily visible without much trouble.

 

[nymphingmaniac]

what others wrote. I'll underscore the fine wire scud hooks. I tie a lot on fine wire scud hooks for emerger style of flies where I want the body dangling below. I extend the tails with the contour of the bend to achieve the struggling emerger appearance.
I would not use a scud hook if I wanted a high floating fly.

 

[SlingingWets]

It's a 2x heavy hook. That doesn't help.

I was just going to say the same thing - that heavy wire hook sure isn't helping.