Loon Floatant Caddies

The article Magical CDC discusses the importance of having an effective water repellent and drying system for your flies at hand, especially when fishing CDC flies. I’ve been a convert to the system for a long time — applying gel to protect flies from excess water absorption, and drying them out with desiccant. It works, keeping your flies riding high and drifting well, ultimately getting more eats because of it.

That’s all well and good, but the thing is it also matters where you put your bottles of pixie dust. In my case I’ve been stuffing them in a pocket buried deep in my bag, switching between a sling and a waterproof backpack depending on how much gear I intend to hall around and keep dry. The pockets are by no means designed for these receptacles and subsequently slip into the abyss, under all manner of flies that I’ll never use, extra tippet — the list goes on. Inevitably I spot a fish rising up ahead and either tie on a new fly that needs pre-treating or mop dry a well fished one ready for a decent presentation on the first drift. Rummaging  around in my pack to complete this final step is hardly the ideal preparation and it’s definitely no good for my nerves.

So, finally, I got around to getting a bottle caddy that I can flick between my packs with ease. The Loon large size double suited my needs in this case. Safe to say it has changed my life. The bottles are right there on my chest ready to go, and minutes have transformed to seconds before laying that fly out on the water prepped for the job ahead. It’s such an obvious revolution, I feel like an idiot for not having done it earlier. Just make sure to check that your favoured bottle sizes fit snuggly into the right size holder.