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Fly Tying
Gene L

What sizes do you tie to

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I read of these tiers tying down to 32 or so, and I wonder. I've never tied down to 22 and find that about my limit. I doubt I could see a 32 if I ever tied down that small with a dry fly.

 

So, realistically, what do you tie at the extreme end? Usually, I mean.

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I read of these tiers tying down to 32 or so, and I wonder. I've never tied down to 22 and find that about my limit. I doubt I could see a 32 if I ever tied down that small with a dry fly.

 

So, realistically, what do you tie at the extreme end? Usually, I mean.

 

I tie as small as #24. A certain gentleman that I camp and fish with, who is also the best fly tier I know, tied some #32 parachutes on our last camping/tying/fishing trip. I watched him stick several big trout (18+") on the 32s, but he did not manage to get any to the net that day. I'll be fishing with him again in May, I can hardly wait.

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I'm with Gene here, I tie to about 22. To be honest, I rarely go below 18 I just dont think it matters that much for every day fishing. Now, with certain hatches and species I tie 20's and 22's but I'm not fond of it.

 

I've never even seen a size 32 hook. What is the smallest hook commercially available?

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I have tied and fished with size 24 (mostly tricos,) but I usually am content with size 20 and 22 for midges. I have tied plenty of size 32s, but I don't usually fish them.

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I've done 22's, and I think I could go down to maybe size 28, but my eyes get crossed even with the glasses when doing the 22's for too long, kinda liked the small stuff the first try. We don't get too much of a need for it down here in TX though, so I don't do much of it. Maybe in the future, if I can wrangle a trip in the club auction I'll have a reason to do more of them.

 

 

Blane

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I am a member of the 20/20, 22/22, and 24/24 club (24 inch fish on a size 24 fly). Thats my limit as I dont see the need to tye 26's to catch fish.

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18 is about my limit. Only thing that is a good hatch here below a 18 are tricos and when it comes to that I'd rather buy then tie that small. I hate tying super small flies :D

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I tied down to size 20 but will probably stick to 18 as the benefit didn't outweigh the effort of tying smaller. What size tippet are you tying on a 24 or smaller? the eye must be tiny?

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my failing eyes limit me to about a size 22 but with additional magnification i might be able to tie smaller

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I regularly tie down to size 20 and rarely to size 22. When tying really small, I like to use a short shank, wide gape hook. The wide gape is better for hooking and easier handling.

 

I think the smallest flies I've tied were on a TMC 2488 size 24. That is a 2x short hook. So the shank is about equivalent to a 26.

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I love to tie small stuff. Rarely do i tie larger than 18's with the exception of streamers and I regularly tie and fish24-26's. The problem comes in landing the shy pigs that will only take such small flies without beding the hook or tireing them out.

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