Loon Outdoors

Loon Outdoors is one of those companies that is leading the way in both product development and environmental conservation.  Loon produces a wide range of fly fishing and fly tying products, which are environmentally-friendly and function at a exceptional level.  Their products include U.V. wader repair, floatant, line dressing, indicators, sinkers, head cement, tools, fly boxes and many more items.  Loon Outdoors supports a number of conservation groups and even has conservation goals built into their mission statement.


Top Ride

Take a look online or at your favorite fly shop and you will find a wide range of floatants.  Most come in the form of a small tube that contains a soft wax-like substance, which keeps water from penetrating the fly.  The paste also has a neutral buoyancy so it does do a pretty good job at keeping your fly afloat.  Problems with paste based floatants are that they tend to smash delicate fibers and mat down dubbing.  Perhaps the most common problem associated with these floatants is that when a fly dressed with the paste hits the water it leaves a tell tale oily wake as it drifts. 


Loon Outdoors Top Ride is different.  Top Ride is made from pure silica powder.  All you do is give your fly a few false casts to shake off as much water as you can, pop the top of the Top Float,  drop the fly and first couple inches of leader in, close the lid, give it a couple of shakes and you are good to go. The silica powder acts both as a desiccant in that it actually dries the fly and a floatant in that the fly is treated to stay afloat.  After a few shakes in Top Ride your fly will be coated in the powder.  A single false cast removes any excess powder and you are clear to present your fly. 



I have tried a few other powder floatants, but Top Ride just works better.  My flies stay dry longer and when fishing riffles or broken water Top Ride really gets the job done.  It is with good reason that Top Ride is the "go to" floatant for guides.  It is simple and it works. 

Disclosure- Loon Outdoors provided the featured products free of charge for me to review. I was not compensated in any other way for this blog post.