ducksterman -

There is no problem getting fly through as you can make the loop as big as you want. The good thing here is that the loop you need to pass the fly through is closed by pulling on the leader end of the knot, so a lot of the slack goes there and not into the loop.

The knot can be slid around before you adjust it to change the size of your loop. It may use a little more tippet in the tag end that you trim, but for me it's really a non issue - my tippet is loop-connected to my furled leader, so it's easy and fast to change. The speed of tying the knot, for me, also outweighs the small extra amount of tippet. Oh yeah, and I'm kind of cheap, so I'm not using real expensive tippet either.

If you aren't wanting an open loop at the fly, I would also recomend a palomar knot. It has the same benefits of the figure eight in that I can tie it a whole lot faster than some of the other fly knots. And I've never had one slip on me, no matter how slick of material.

My recomendation for learning new knots is to get a shorter piece of 1/8" - 1/4" rope and tie a few with that. It's easy to see what the line is doing, keep things in order, and untie to redo. Practice adjusting the size of your loop a few times with the rope before you go to the tippet. It has made knots a lot easier for me in the past.

Deeky