The Wild Fishing Forum

I find the small flies which have been posted here fascinating and admire the skill with which they are tied but I wondered what sizes of flies are the smallest we use in an average season. I suspect it may vary by location. For myself I virtually never go below an 18 although I've got a small emergency selection of flies down to about 22 which almost never see the end of my cast.

I have a box of tiny spiders and emergers that Hans tied for me. The size 28 and 30 machair spiders get a couple of outings a year- usually in a flat calm or for very fussy feeders. They've saved the odd blank.

generally 12 -14    ----but av got a few wee tiny bits of cul-canard (fluff ) tied-wrapped on some 18s  which i use sometimes when its very calm  

Won some Hans Micro Klinks last year, what a revelation. the smallest flies are just great. The sizes are below 18s by a fair way - more akin to catching my minnows :lol: but the sport is great. Had a ten inch monster and I thought I was going to lose the fly. I've had some amazing fun with them on a little stream and even on the loch in a flat calm with the midges eating me alive.

Sandy B.O.

The majority of my fishing is normally 16 - 20's, with a few 22 - 26's occasionally

In the past, on the WoL, I frequently used down to size 28 as the fish were feeding on wee terrestrial dross.  Never come across a stream where I've had to fish so small since, generally use 16 and 18's.

Norm

Ok ok so just what size of leader are youz guyz with the great eyes using to get these dots on to the water.  I personally cannot see any kind of natural presentation if anything above a pound is used on 20's and above


Davie

Smallest I would normally use are size 14's. Most of my fishing is done on lochs which don't have excellent hatches of anything so more often than not it's standard wets I use. If I was fishing on rivers I'd probably try something smaller.

Cheers

Robbie

An 18 or 20 is as small as I feel comfortable with, but I did land a very hard fighting good sized fish around 2lb on one of Hans' micro flies, so maybe I should try them more regularly than I do.

Alex

I'll go down to a 22 or 24 frequently, and a 26 rarely on the river. Usually for little smuts (using dry or wet flies).

But I'd estimate about 70% of the time I use flies in the size 12-16 range. If I'm using a dry fly for combing the water  a 14 is about as small as I go :shock:.

Cheers,

.D.

Quote from: The General on December 15, 2008, 06:03:12 PM
Ok ok so just what size of leader are youz guyz with the great eyes using to get these dots on to the water.  I personally cannot see any kind of natural presentation if anything above a pound is used on 20's and above


Davie

Spot one Davie,

1lb tippet for the wee flies although now that we have "super strong" materials available, I find myself using 2.4lb Rio Powowerflex for the wee flies.

Norm 

Mostly Lochs for me so usually 12s and 14s going up to 10s and LS 8s for big waves and monster sedge/daddy hatches. Down to sparse 16s when things get dire/anglers curse hatches or on smaller burns and I think ah've a couple of 18/20s somewhere in a corner of a box but don't remember ever throwing one at the troots.   

Ian

Most seasons will see me going down to 20's on the odd occasion - you want 7X tippet for this (2.8 lb in Froghair). Great when it works, but to be honest, it's a marginal tactic for me rather than a first line approach.
This last, gale-tossed season was not a vintage one for 'midge-fishing'.

I do find that, apart from the LDOs in spring, I tend to use either small (#16-18) or big (#10) dry flies. 12's and 14's don't see as much use from mid-May onwards.
Dave

Fisher folk often associate small burns with small flies. I don't understand this as the range of insects available to the trout can be the same on a small burn as it is on a large river. So why a tendency to scale down?  I don't usually fish smaller than a 14 or 16. Even minnows will have a go at a 14 dry - little buggers! I'll go down to an 18 on a loch in a flat calm though, especially when there's a Caenis hatch on, or if I want to lazily drift a wee buzzer below the surface. Bores me stupid though after about 10 minutes and I chuck a great big daddy or a CDC suspender on to give me something to look at. The diameter of the line make these flies in the 20s seem a bit daft as the knot must surely be as prominent as the fly itself?

Mainly fish lochs and size 16 is the smallest i would use regularly. Very occasionally use some 18 to 20 nymphs/dries.

Quote from: River Chatter on December 15, 2008, 09:35:46 PM
Fisher folk often associate small burns with small flies. I don't understand this as the range of insects available to the trout can be the same on a small burn as it is on a large river. So why a tendency to scale down? .........

I quite like fishing upland burns now and then. I'd say terrestrials swept off the banks onto the water are just as likely to be taken as waterborne insects at the surface, if not more so. They're often medium to large sized beetles, hoverflies, heatherflies etc.  I think that gives you quite a bit of license in terms of fly size.

The trout in those sorts of places are often pretty hungry too.

.D.

Quote from: piscatus absentis on December 15, 2008, 08:02:49 PM
Never go below 14s.  I tried to tie on a couple of 16s last year and gave up.  Is there an easy way for those of us who are knocking on a bit to tie on small flies?

Have you thought of trying one of these Bob?

http://www.fishtec.co.uk/INC_EnlargedImage.cfm?ID=cf&ShopRef=23&Prime=No&shopListRec=40074

Actually, they do the threaders on their own, so you don't need to buy the box. even the threaders are expensive though. I find them great for the evening rise.

Alex

Quote from: claretbumble on December 15, 2008, 11:22:58 PM
I can't chuffing see to tie on anything that hasn't got an eye the size of the Channel Tunnel, and I'm a tw@t 'cos I always forget my glasses when I go out..... I'm at that "difficult in-between age" when I'm still gobsmacked by the rapid and sudden transition from  20/20 vision to rampant long-sightedness ..... by the time I've held something far enough away that I can focus on the bl**dy thing, it's too far away to see!

Been there CB. I'm now totally lost without my glasses. I always wear polaroids and got prescription varifocal ljobs made up. I couldn't get on with the varifocals when fishing so now I use these.... http://www.stitchaholics.net/shop/products.php?p=1308&f=f

Alex

Practice tying them on in the dark or with your eyes shut, then you wont need the glasses to see to do it :)

Obviously 20 and smaller for me....
This pattern gave me lots of fn last year in Norway....
Size 24,
cheers, Hans

Bit big for a baetis Hans  :shock: :lol:

Very nice tie.

Alex same clip ons in sportfish is ?5.95

Davie

QuoteAlex same clip ons in sportfish is ?5.95

Cheers Davie, I think that is where I got my last couple of sets. I also got a cheap pair or two from The Big W.

Alex

I have standard wire hooks down to 22s which I'm happy to use where trouteens hang out.

But when I'm after something more substantial, 18 forged short shank carp hooks are the minimum hook strength I will use. They are the length of a 20 anyway.
Experience down the years has taught me not to compromise on hook metal strength when fishing in some places. The days when my best fish were "got aways after 20 minutes" are past history in my fishing diary!

Quote from: claretbumble on December 15, 2008, 11:22:58 PM
I can't chuffing see to tie on anything that hasn't got an eye the size of the Channel Tunnel, and I'm a tw@t 'cos I always forget my glasses when I go out..... I'm at that "difficult in-between age" when I'm still gobsmacked by the rapid and sudden transition from  20/20 vision to rampant long-sightedness ..... by the time I've held something far enough away that I can focus on the bl**dy thing, it's too far away to see!

One of my freinds loves to fish small flies, but his eyesight is pretty poor.
So he ties them onto a length of say 10 inches of tippet-material at home, using a magnifier, and stores them into a box.
If he decides to use one of the tinies he attaches this tippet to his leader....
Maybe this helps the poor-sighted.... 8)
Cheers, Hans

I think as well to be fair to PA's suggestion that you could use the piece of nylon or whatever you use as the dropper in the same manner as PA suggested the leader.  Knowing my luck I'd just drop the lot and spend the next hour looking in the long grass for my flees

Davie

i think that is feckin brilliant  :o----almost a wee eureka idea there for those small flees ---put them on that wee loop at home ---slip your leader through the loop and slide off ---am away to try that right now --looks too simple ------it feckin works tried it wi some eighteens simple   am impressed  :D

I have found this very interesting. The club I go fishing with a few times a season are very different from forum members. I seldom see them using flies smaller than a 12 maybe one or two have a token 14 in their boxes. Most trips they do very well indeed but every so often when the fish are on top their flies are found wanting.

We're quite a delicate, sophisticated lot on here.

Sorry Dod!

it was an interesting post ,,i was surprised myself to see quite so many small fly users ,,and i did put 18 myself --but i would probably only use them once or twice in a season 12-14s are actually much more the norm  ---so probably a more accurate poll would have been """what is your usual size fly used ""   most of us are capable of fishing much larger or smaller very occassionally --it would be interesting to see if it differed if at all

do you know think some of the tiny wee flies are so uninteresting, i know the trout love them cos my cousin fishs nothing but harelug and plovers in 22s, and i must admit there deadly. but so dam dare i say it boring to tie.i struggle to whip finish a head smaller than a 22...... whats the fun in fishing, if you need a magnifying glass to see the flee.....  maybe im getting to be a flee tart   mmmmm