What worked best for me is that after I dropped the pan, I did all my prep and made sure it was nice and clean. Applied my hondabond to the oil pan and then placed the gasket on top and lined it up nice and neat. I cleaned where it mates to the motor and made that nice and clean. I let the gasket dry to the pan overnight with a piece of plywood on top and some bricks for weight. After a good nights sleep I put a fresh application of hondabond on the topside of the gasket, re-installed the oilpan and torqued the bolts to spec. No problems since and I check it everytime I change the oil. Nice and dry like the day I bought it.

This might sound like overkill, but I cannot tell you how many times I went to repair a leak and then the fucker still kept leaking.