Smallest flies you use

[scotfly]

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

Very nice tie.

[The General]

Alex same clip ons in sportfish is ?5.95

Davie

[haresear]

Alex 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

[IrishFloatTube]

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!

[Hans]

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....
Cheers, Hans

[The General]

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

[dseabass]

i think that is feckin brilliant  ----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 

[Malcolm]

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!

[dseabass]

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

[muddler54]

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