The Hunt For Big Fish with Larry Dahlberg

Living in Holland I like to fish for pike with the Dahlberg Diver which I ty with Deer Belly Hair and a lot of variations regarding the tail. However after catching a pike or even after fishing for some time without catching anything the Diver looses it's buoyancy and starts to sink slowly. Now I wonder what is the best way to improve the buoyancy. Is there a recommended floatant or other way of treatment ?
Thanks in advance for any help.
Ton

First, use the best deer hair you can find. Deer harvested from very cold climates are best and hair that's not been washed works best too.
I dress the fly to begin with on the bench with liquid silicone. After letting it dry very well I use a paste floatant before fishing it.
After it's got fish spit on it I use a powdered dessicant to dry it off.
In super hot climates where hair just won't float I use foam to make my diving heads.
best
L

Thanks for your reply.
Would you also recommend to seal the hair with head cement or something like that ? And if so, only the (flat) bottom of the head ? And before or after applying the silicon ?

Seal hair only on bottom, especially if you have thick glue . Don't put glue on the collar. best glue is shoe goo thinned super thin with toluene. If proper thinness,it seals hair without messing up stiffness of diving collar.
best
L

Two other things I have found help with spun hair flies too. 1: Pack the hair thicker. The more stuffed it is the better they have floated for me. Of coasre there is a limit though but that takes experimenting to find. 2: I have started to steam the hair over a boiling tea kettle after I do my rough trimming. When you handle the hair it gets flattened. The steam makes it fluff back up and it stands up to the razor much better too. I read that in a pretty popular mag that I just can't recall the name of right now. Just be very carefull if you are using bunny strips, the steam can ruin them. I've got a couple beautiful divers and poppers with shrivled up bunny strip tails.