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Getting tiny
- Thread starter BishopBullwinkle
- Start date
Michael F Sights
Senior Member
I might be able to tie a fly that small but cannot get the tippet through the eye!
I feel your pain,Michael!
Good looking fly BishopBullwinkle.
Good looking fly BishopBullwinkle.
Tentwing
Senior Member
I hate to admit this....... But gray haired eyesight has forced me to actually anchor the Tippet into the fly while I am tying it. I have been doing this with all of my 20's , 22's , and 24's for years now.
........Tentwing
........Tentwing
Killer Kyle
Senior Member
I tie down to #24. Only brook trout flies. The most common nymph I fish year round,almost exclusively, is a #20 WD-40.
I don't tie or fish anything under a #18 these days. And not many of those. I hate fooling with those little bitty things, and don't ever seem to catch fish on them, either. I would say my "average" fly size is #12-#14 for most of my fishing. I don't fish those slick tailwaters, though.
I tie size #22 midges for swaps and contests. Usually Zebra and Rainbow Warrior midges. As far as fishing them, the last time I fly fished was on a stream in the Smokies that NCH put me on. That was a couple years ago. As my recovery from back surgery progresses, I hope to get back to wading streams again. The last fish I caught on a midge pattern was in Smith Creek DH at Unicoi five years ago.
jigman29
Senior Member
Same for me. I keep some in my box but rarely use them. I even use size 10 quite often for specks but 12-14 is the norm for me.
BishopBullwinkle
Banned
This is one of the main reasons I went to barbless hooks. Much much easier to deal with. I always keep a few for double nymph rigs.
I'm getting so old and blind that I have to fish with flies that look like half a chicken on a hook to even see them. 
It's surprising sometimes how in the summer when the water is low and the fish are spooky and everybody is fishing tiny flies; what can happen when you tie on a big #8 rubber-legged Stimulator. I've seen good trout hit it like bass rolling on a jitterbug.
jigman29
Senior Member
It's surprising sometimes how in the summer when the water is low and the fish are spooky and everybody is fishing tiny flies; what can happen when you tie on a big #8 rubber-legged Stimulator. I've seen good trout hit it like bass rolling on a jitterbug.
Most overthink it anyway. A wild trout, especially a speck will eat about anything from what I have seen. Not to say they cant be finicky but they arent as hard to catch as most would think.
Yep. Some of the tailwaters that get a lot of pressure are more technical, but in most freestone streams, it's presentation over pattern most of the time. Mark Cathey was probably the best fly fisherman to ever wet a line in the Smokies, and he consistently outfished other people for decades. Apparently, he hardly ever used anything but a #10 Gray Hackle Yellow.
Killer Kyle
Senior Member
Last week a friend of mine caught a 6-7" speck on a huge size #8 mohair leech with a big 4mm Tung bead that I gave them. Some of my biggest specks have come on some of my biggest flies. It's suprizing to see the big things they'll eat sometimes.
Last year I caught several warpaint shiners on crankbaits, and they were smaller the crankbaits I caught them on! Fish amaze me sometimes!
Put a big, black, live 4" long spring lizard on a hook and throw it in a speck creek and see what happens.
jigman29
Senior Member
Put a big, black, live 4" long spring lizard on a hook and throw it in a speck creek and see what happens.
That or a small crawdad lol
