chugbug27 0 Report post Posted November 20, 2018 A fool and his money are soon parted... Fortunately in my case it was only $6. Anyway, inspired by some recent postings and after seeing an old post by Hans Weilenmann regretting the loss of these specific hooks on the market, I've ordered a dozen size 30 Tiemco 2488's from a fellow selling his "last batch" on eBay. My tying bench is in boxes at the moment, but any suggestions on fly patterns and tippet size from those with experience tying and fishing these hooks would be much appreciated for when I can get back to the bench. The only thought I have at the moment is to tie some horse mane midges, maybe some with a micropuff of snowshoe hair at the thorax, and if I can manage it maybe some of those even with a microbit of zelon at the tail end. I've got uni trico (17/0) for thread, which I think will do fine. My smallest tippet is 7x, and I'm hoping my $6 hooks aren't going to cost me another $15 for 9x or 10x tippet that I'll only have this one use for... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mark Knapp 0 Report post Posted November 20, 2018 Congratulations, size 30 hooks are very hard to find, at least they were for me. I was able to get some in a nymph hook, not a dry fly. I can't really help you, have fun though. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Philly 0 Report post Posted November 20, 2018 I don't tie them that small anymore but I still have some of the Tiemco size 30 and 32's. The only pattern I tied on them was a pattern I came up with that I call the Wissahickon midge. Here's a picture of one tied on a size 20. I didn't take the picture Hans Weilenmann did. The body is two small CDC feathers, one black one rusty brown, tied in by the tips, twisted together and wrapped as the body. The wing is CDC barbules stripped from the feather tied in then trimmed even with the back of the hook. It's been a very effective fly for me here in the Mid-Atlantic/Northeast for trout. The problem with tying it on a size 30 or 32 is it can be very tedious and frustrating as the body is a few long barbules of each color stripped from the feather tied in and wrapped for the body and then a few barbules of white for the wing. I only tied two for fishing on the Tiemco size 32. They both caught me a fish. Unfortunately they were sunfish which beat the trout I was trying to catch to the fly. Problem was I couldn't find the flies in the sunfishes' mouth so I cut the tippet and let them go. Last time I ever fished a size 32. For tippet I think I was using 10X though there's an outside possibility it was 7x or 8x. It was several years ago. When you're tying flies that small, you can't be OCD. It requires minimal materials. A very small bead head, thread body, very fine wire wrapped as a rib would be a simple tie. I used 10/0 thread to tie the size 32. I don't think it's on line anymore back in the early 2000's Hans W came up with a box of the Mustad size 32 hooks which he sent out to tyers he knew, including me, and asked us to tie a fly on one for what he called his "Smallest Fly Project". He took pictures and put them up on his web site at that time. I believe the pictures were lost when he changed servers because I can't find them on line anymore. There were some very nice flies tied for the "project". Good Luck tying on them. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sandan 0 Report post Posted November 20, 2018 Good luck! I've tied Bling Midge Larva down to 28 as well as Phil's no mercy midge. If you're careful and delicate you could probably tie 'em in 30. Phils No Mercy Midge Hook: TMC 2488 - Size 22 - 26 Thorax: Uni-Thread Camel 8/0 Head: Veevus Black 16/0 Gills: CDC White Puff Ribbing: Lagaratun Silver extra fine or like Coating: Bug Bond Light UV Resin coat entire fly, Use 16/0 in camel too. for the bling: 16/0 black, wrap to bend tie in a couple/three mallard flank fibers and some x-small copper wire. Wrap the fibers to about 2 eyes from the eye, tie it off. Spiral the wire to the same. Tie it off. tie in some flat pearl tinsel. Take a wrap or two tie it off. whip finish. Those are 28s. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chugbug27 0 Report post Posted November 20, 2018 Thanks Philly & Sandan. Appreciated. I've got the CDC and also some lagartun extra fine (gold). Hadn't thought of those Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Philly 0 Report post Posted November 21, 2018 For very fine wire. If you have an old set of ear phones for an IPod, you can strip the coating and find very fine wire. The colors, I'm too lazy to go upstairs and check, are red, green, copper and silver if I'm not mistaken. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chugbug27 0 Report post Posted November 21, 2018 Good tip, thanks. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sandan 0 Report post Posted November 21, 2018 Good tip, thanks.or an old electric motor. For the no mercy the CDC is about 4-5X the hook eye length. Just thought of this, it's one my buddy and I call the "Nava-crack-ho", we thought of it for the San Juan. Black thread, 2 strands of pearl crystal flash for the tail and a black ice dub thorax. That's a 28 also Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Piker20 0 Report post Posted November 21, 2018 A simple F fly or a Griffiths gnat if you have hackle small enough. Even simple black dubbing roughed up. It won't take much to keep it afloat. For tippet I like stroft and it drops as low as 0.06 although I've not found much need to go below 0.08 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chugbug27 0 Report post Posted November 21, 2018 Thanks Piker, I think .08mm, translates to .003", or 8x. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sandflyx 0 Report post Posted November 23, 2018 I have 9,10,12x tippet for small flies and a lot of these for fishing if I ever decide to go back to small fly fishing. where I am a size 16 is smallest I go now and size 12 is average to size 6 largest Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sandflyx 0 Report post Posted November 23, 2018 Philly wissahickon midge I know where that was taken from. never fished it though my buddy use to. some say there are a few wild ones in there yet. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chugbug27 0 Report post Posted November 23, 2018 They've arrived! I'll post the ties once I've done them. Hopefully the move will go fast. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Piker20 0 Report post Posted November 24, 2018 Sounds about right Chugbug. I use a #3 rod so could probably drop down further if I went lower but #3 is the best compromise with wind we have nearly year round. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Philly 0 Report post Posted November 24, 2018 Philly wissahickon midge I know where that was taken from. never fished it though my buddy use to. some say there are a few wild ones in there yet. It usually has a decent population of holdovers, sandflyx. A few years ago I caught a few browns around 4 inches long with parr stripes. Maybe they were pulled from the wrong pond by the state or maybe they were stream bred, don't know. These days I mainly fish it for bass and pan fish Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites