size 20

[Guest]

picked up some mustad hooks from cabelas this weekend. unfortunately they didnt have the fly tying sizes (ie 2xl or whatnot) on them, but one looks like a 2xl nymph in a 14 and picked up 2 caddis/scud looking hooks in a 16 and 20. i dont tie down to a 20 that often, but for 5 bucks/100 hooks i figured i could play around some with them. the 14 is 80000br and the others are 80100br. not sure what that means, but that is the code on them.

 

now after tying 2 flies my eyes are starting to cross on me. i basically just put a small glass bead on the first some black thread and small copper ribbing to make a midge type fly, the other i took a gunmetal glass bead and some chartruese thread with copper ribbing to make the smallest caddis i have ever tied! hmm wonder if steel will take them that small

 

anyways, i just had to brag a little, i was pleasantly surprised i had the patience to tie on a hook that small.

[lanvaettir 0]

Just be careful. It's a slippery slope when you start with 20's ... soon you'll want 22's and when you hit rock bottom ... you'll be ordering 30's.

[Steeldrifter 0]

That's to small even for my eyes

 

I can handle some simple midges that aren't real in depth but anything else and my eyes can't take it.

[Troutman 0]

welcome to the tiny fly club. Like lanvaettir said it's a slippery slope and the next thing you know you're trying to tie a size 28 adams

 

and dreaming of getting your hands on some size 32 hooks.

 

Jim

[Robert_S 0]

 

 

Its a real slippery slope, after a while the 28s look big next to the 32s

[Guest]

wow troutman, i dont know if i will ever get down that small. if the trout are feeding on something that small, then i will have to switch tactics, like going to the store to get my food that night

 

sd, that is basically all i am tying right now are just basic thread and wire midge patterns, but i may play around with some type of emerger patterns if i can find one simple enough. dont want to try to put to much material on this hook, definately not enough room.

[Guest]

My eyes don't work well without help these days; time was I'd be able to wind these tiny little buggers into the wee hours of morning, in the lousy light of a too-small camp lamp, while indulging in much too much liquid refreshment and trying to keep grubby drunken moochers from stealing my cigarettes. Gee- think I've heard you guys say you're guilty of that same stuff - on all counts!

 

I have a great gantry-style magnifier I have to use now for that tiny stuff. Every so often if the light is right I'll try and tie without extra help- it's tough.

[TroutRuleBassDrool 0]

QUOTE (Troutman @ Mar 6 2005, 10:43 PM)

welcome to the tiny fly club. Like lanvaettir said it's a slippery slope and the next thing you know you're trying to tie a size 28 adams and dreaming of getting your hands on some size 32 hooks. Jim

Um... is it just me, or are your fingers purple???

[Troutman 0]

It's damn cold Actually still getting use to the new camera and working out some of the bugs on the color for the close up shots.

 

Jim

[ArkieFlyGuy 0]

Not only is his thumb purple, but take a close look at the body of the fly.....

[conehead 0]

I went to Cabelas yesterday, they advertised 4.99 for a 100 box of mustad flytying hooks. when I got there it was only for the 8000 series hooks. I ended up buying about 16 boxes.

 

The hooks looked different in the boxes (black finish and a curve of the hook started about 3/4 way back and had a gentle slope to the bend. I thought the bigger sizes would still work for bass streamers and bass nymphs.

 

Mostlly large sizes 1/0, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10s.

 

When I opened them at home, I was surprised at the eye of the hook. The wire was wrapped like an eye but then tapered along side of the hook for about a 1/8 of an inch. the eye was not braized to the hook and was open (you could slide thread or a wire along side the shaft into the eye.

 

I could put on beads and cones, and just wrapped thread around the gap to squeeze it closed for streamers and nymphs. Does anyone know if the wire is strong enough that it will not open under pressure?

 

(they look like the salmon fly hooks for the artistic flies)

I have not seen hooks like these before.

 

Confused Conehead

[Crotalus 0]

here is a link to a Mustad conversion chart

 

http://killroys.com/hooks/hookmust.htm

 

there are also charts for Tiemco, Daiichi, Orvis and Partridge along with a cross referenc chart

[conehead 0]

Thanks Crotalus,

 

Isn't the World Wide Web great. Just think 15 years ago we could only have helped each other out if we lived in the same state, town, and belonged to the same fly tying club. The hook chart would have been hard to read since it would have been copied 74 times when you gave it to me.

 

I guess this is ironic, seeing that you live 15 minutes away from me.

 

Conehead

PS: I cannot wait for the cold to leave and the streams to go down.. We'll have to get together.

[Mato Kuwapi 0]

I may have said this before on this site but I'll say it again...just in case it was another site.

 

If you want a real treat, here is a chance to see Dave Prothero tie at a show...STOP and watch. This amazing man ties down to a 32 hook. That being said....he only has the use of one hand, do to a stoke he suffered several years ago. It's a real treat to watch him tie. He came up with simple tools to help him over the challange of tying with one hand.

 

He'll be at the Izzak Walton Forum in April.

[Philly 0]

I'll have to dig up the URL for the Smallest Fly Project. I have it on my work computer. It features two or three dozen flies tied by different people on the Mustad Size 32 hooks.