M'lud, as a lowly peasant and all round lazy bugger I often don't bother with floatant, instead just make a few really swooshy false casts to dry the fly before casting proper. Sometimes when I can find the right pocket on my vest I have been known to use Gherke's Gink fly floatant, this stuff only costs a couple of quid and lasts for ages. All you need is a tiny blob on your finger, rub it between finger and thumb first to warm and melt it then apply straight to the fly. Though sometimes you need to dry your fly first with a false cast or two or by blowing on it or the gink wont stick.
If you haven't already got some line degreaser (think thats what its called!) to make your leader sink invest in some of this too, I use orvis mud as it seems to work longer than anything else but you can use actual mud if this suits M'lud. Trout have an amazing nack for spotting line when its caught in the surface tension of the water, even if theyve never been caught! So its totally essential for fishing dry flies, and I also never go fishing for carp on the surface without a pot of degreaser now too.
Hows the flyfishing coming on anyway, caught any more yet?