Small flys

As any knows here In Michigan the best bug repellant is a 12 ga. with no less than #5 shot! Our Misquitoes are as big as a small bird! I've even heard them argue about eating me on the stream or taking me home!!
When my buddies (?) see me tying #20's for a Colorado trip they think I'm nutz!! "You can't catch anything on that small a hook"!! My retort is "That is not a small hook here's a 26"!!
I'll accept all replys to help put them straight!!

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Cactus

I rarely tye or use flies larger than #18.

[chewydog]

Have them stick on of those #26 hooks in their finger with a tippet tied on and try to get loose.
I know, I've had a few in my fingers. Even barbless they don't come out that easy.
I'm with Pats Man. I live in Co. and tying a #16 seems huge.

make that 3 of us. anything i fish is usually (95% o' the time) #18 or smaller. on a rare occasion, ill need a #16 caddis or brown mayfly, but ive never fished anything bigger than that which wasnt a streamer.

[lee s]

Now THAT could be an accuracy contest......can you toss YOUR bug through the eye of MY bug? Sounds like most of them will fit!
......lee s.

[Philly]

I could always send you a couple of size 32's to show them. Though these are the Tiemco's and not the eyeless gold Mustad ones.
I use a lot of 22's and 24's, more midges than mayflies around here. I think one time in frustration I tied on a size 32 to tempt a fussy trout. I think the smallest I've caught a fish on is a size 28.
I've spent a good portion of the winter tying for my bass and saltwater boxes. Now, I'm getting ready to fill in the spaces in my midge box. So from tying on size 2 to 3/0 hooks, I'm working at the opposite end of the spectrum, starting at size 20 and working down.

[Gnu Bee Flyer]

Last fall we were chronimid fishing with floating line and 9 ft leaders with 2ft tippet and #16 Chromies . We were doing fairly well for 12-14inch trout , about one every 20 minutes or so . For fun I had tied a single #20 Doc Spratley , just to see if I could do it . It turned out quite well , looks kinda like a mosquito , It was actually easier to tie a #20 than I thought it would be . At the lake My fishing buddy said , "I bet you can't catch anything with that dumb little fly You tied last week . I tied it on and almost instantly got a 12" trout .
let it go and then had another on almost immediatly . 3 fish and the fly was almost destroyed , It lasted another 2 fish and I had to retire it . Whatever they thought it was they took it about 2ft down instead of the aprox 12 ft deep that the chronies were working at . I got a bunch tied for this Spring and my fingers crossed .


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Time is the fire that we burn in .