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lostnwilderness

Smallest Thread Possible?

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Smallest Thread Possible?

 

I have always heard to use the smallest thread possible especially on dries. I use standard 8/0 on most of mine. My question is what size do you typically use, more importantly – do any of you use 12/0 or 14/0? What brand and type? Do you think it helps or makes a difference?

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I use 8/0 for just about everything. I tried some 14/0 for a while but felt it made me more careless. I only want to use as much thread as necessary, and 8/0 keeps me honest.

Mike.

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Same here, 8/0 for pretty much everything. I use 6/0 or 140 denier for some bigger flies but never go smaller then 8/0 or 70 denier.

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I use Griffith's Sheer 14/0 for most of my tying. Seems pretty strong for a 14/0, and comes in lots of colors. Keeps the bulk down. Of course, I tie mainly dries,soft hackles, and nymphs in a limited range of sizes (12 - 18), no bass bugs, etc. I would think 6/0 or 8/0 would be fine if you pay attention to the amount of wraps.

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I use 14/0 shear and it does help in size 18 and below. Also a big fan of benecchi 12/0 but sourcing it is becoming harder

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I use 8/0 on flies down to 18 or 20 and use Uni-Caenis or Danville Spiderweb for the really little ones.

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I have been using 10/0 Veevus thread for most things even big flies. Veevus thread has a MUCH higher break strength in all their sizes. That means you can use a very fine thread and not give up strength. I am slowly replacing most of my threads with Veevus brand threads of one to two sizes smaller.

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I believe that the UNI Caenis and Trico threads are somewhere in the 17/0 to 18/0 range, but their use is pretty much limited to flies in the #24-#32 range...although I do use white UNI Trico thread for tying the bodies on classic salmon flies to keep bulk to a minimum.

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Awhile ago I bought some at an Orvis that was 16/0 or 18/0 and I used it for small flies, 20's and smaller. Use Veevus 14/0 for a lot of my trout flies. However I don't think the x/0 rating is really accurate to tell you which is the "smallest" . That is, one brands 10/0 might be another brands 8/0 when it comes to diameter. I like the 14/0 because it has a good break strength while not creating much mass on the hook shank.

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I typically use 17/0 Uni on all of my flies except my leech patterns.
I am very comfortable using it to the point I use the "split thread" technique with it.
I also like using 10/0 Gudebrod in white, black and olive.
I don't tie very large flies. A large percentage of them in the #14 to #26 range.

I like the Uni because it goes "transparent" when you hit it with CA or UV Resins
and it takes marker dies rather well.
For larger patterns I use 8/0 Gudebrod in white , olive, tan, black and rust.

The frustrating part of using 17/0 Uni is if you have any rough parts of skin on your fingers
it always seems to snag the thread and make it fray.

Kimo

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