My wife has a habit of calling any fly I tie tiny. Even #12 dries. I just showed her some of the #28 hooks I have and told her “Now that is tiny.” LOL Holy cow those things are tiny. I used to be able to tie them not any more. Does anybody tie flies that small let alone fish them?
I’ve tied a few flies on a size 32 for the heck of it, but the smallest I’ve fished is on a size 26. Anything smaller than a 26 gets to be a job to me. I have a buddy that has caught some trout on size 32, but I don’t have the patience to tie that small.
Sadly I do tie a few that small. At a show I was tying at Charles Jardine came to me and asked to see some of the TMC size 32s I had. I handed the box to him. In the box were a couple of flies I had tied on them, as well as the hooks. He put one in my hackle pliers to look at it, then handed it to Mick Huffer. He looked, then took out a jewelers loop and looked again. Then said, “******* **** it’s woven!” Charles took it back and looked through the loop and turned to me and said “You sad *******!”
I once failed to catch as the smallest flies I had were way to big. The hatch was tiny, almost microscopic smuts. The fish were rising to them. I went down to a size 28. The Smuts used the hackle to get through the surface film! The fish ate them without taking my fly. Very frustrating but amazing to see. Thats one good thing about fishing. No mater how prepared we are it will always deal out the odd day like that.
Cheers,
C.
rv,
Yes, I’ve tyed flies in size 32, Tiemco not the Mustad, and have fished them under specific conditions. I’ve hooked and land 4 trout about 12 inches on these flies.
Don’t you recall Hans’ Mustad 32 challenge right here on this site years ago. Here’s a link to photos of flies tied with the Mustads. Fantastic!
Enjoy.
http://www.danica.com/flytier/sfp/sfp.htm
Allan
I got a little ambitious last night and had to give it shot. Here is a #28 X-Caddis
I fish them as as mentioned #30 and #32
I didn’t tie this one. But I did make the photo. Belongs to a friend who couldn’t remember who gave it to him. I think that’s a #32 hook of some kind.
What size tippet will fit them, Fly Goddess?
6X is what I use, but I also use a small Surgeon’s Loop so they still wiggle.
Here is a few ity bits for you.
Wayne
What is the bottom one as I know small beads are only so small LOL I have some 2mm that are too big for #26
#30 midge adult. I don’t fish 'em unless I really have to, but it’s nice to have some that small…
Mini-Midge (size #30) by El Frito, on Flickr
Montana Fly Company (MFC) 1.5mm Lucent Bead, works great on the smaller patterns.
My pattern called the Hot Bead.
Wayne
NICE! I will check into that for sure. Thanks.
I would have never guessed that was yours Curtis. Gorge Burger is another awesome Micro.
