Micro flies <#18

[Piker20 0]

As a UK tyer I have always been interested in the apparent higher use of micro flies stateside. For those of you tying small flies, below #18 for this argument, are you tying because the trout just won't take more standard offerings? Is it catch and release water? Or have you been swept along on a wave of fashion for tiny. I know I started tying small for a midge situation but found the tying quite addictive with the tecnique involved for micro tying.

[Steeldrifter 0]

I really hate tying below a 18, but I do fish some flies as small as 22-24. Normally those are flies like Tricos which don;t get any bigger than that, yet the fish feed on them pretty regualrly when the hatch is on. Then on some waters where the fishing is "no kill" like the Holy Waters of the Au Sable I fish small flies because the fish have been stung by so many flies before that they get really picky in that water.

 

I try to stick with hatches that are decent size flies though when I ca, my eyes aren't as good as they use to be for seeing the tiny flies.

[invasionqt 0]

I have found it to be related to pressured water. After runoff, as the summer progresses the flys get smaller and smaller on the pressured waters. There is a western river that gets pretty heavy pressure and the fish can get pretty snooty, but there is an adjacent tributary that doesn't get even a 1/100 the pressure and you can fish size 8 hoppers and 12 and 14 adams all day long. Very rarely will a fiesty 14 inch brown refuse you offering if it is in the right drift. I tie only select patterns smaller than 18 and nothing smaller than 22; I buy the 24 to 28 stuff when I need it.

[DUBBN 0]

As a UK tyer I have always been interested in the apparent higher use of micro flies stateside. For those of you tying small flies, below #18 for this argument, are you tying because the trout just won't take more standard offerings? Is it catch and release water? Or have you been swept along on a wave of fashion for tiny. I know I started tying small for a midge situation but found the tying quite addictive with the tecnique involved for micro tying.

 

 

I have fished micro patterns for close to 30 years. I would not call that a "wave of fashion". The majority of tailwaters in my neck of the woods are heavily fished. That coupled with the average size of a bug is a size 22, has me thinking it is common sense to match the hatch. The patterns do not have to be intricate, just small. Normally a thread midge will sufice. Wave of fashion? Definately not. More a matter of matching the hatch, or rather the size, and having the common sense to adapt ones technique to what the fish want to eat. Just my opinion.

[riffleriversteelheadslayer 0]

I tie them not as fashion I fish alot of small creeks that rarely hold trout capable of eating a size 10 hopper but will come completely out of the water for a #20 black caddis or #22 BWO plus I have caught many trout over 20 inches on micro flies like you mentioned including a 31 inch brown on a size #28 midge pattern

[tgard27 0]

Tailwaters are loaded with midges. And with that comes the small fly patterns. I fish these on super selective trout in Missouri that see small bugs, and anglers, on a regular basis. I'm guessing that England doesn't have the tail waters that the US does, and that might be the difference in the two's approach. I try small flies on spring creeks here in Missouri with mixed results. It seems that, outside the tailwaters in MO and Arkansas, that caddis(16-18) is king. So, it just comes down to different flies for different waters.

[blakejd 0]

Tailwaters are loaded with midges. And with that comes the small fly patterns. I fish these on super selective trout in Missouri that see small bugs, and anglers, on a regular basis. I'm guessing that England doesn't have the tail waters that the US does, and that might be the difference in the two's approach. I try small flies on spring creeks here in Missouri with mixed results. It seems that, outside the tailwaters in MO and Arkansas, that caddis(16-18) is king. So, it just comes down to different flies for different waters.

 

That pretty much says it. I'm actually reading a book by local author Ed Engle about the subject. If you look and the percent of biomass in tailwaters and spring creeks there is a much larger percentage of insects that fall into the 18 and smaller range. My home waters of the S Platte has fantastic hatches of BWO and Tricos both of which are 18 and smaller. There are a few mayfly species that hatch on the S Platte that are larger but not nearly as prolific. Add to that the picky fish and its not hard to find your successful pattern to be 24-26 during the right time of year.

[Piker20 0]

thanks for the replies. I was not trying to say that micro flies are pure fashion cause I know that at times we need to match the hatch to size and form but it has just amazed me that here in UK micro flies seem to be a rare thing and in USA they have been an established form of fishing for a while. Living in scotland midges and small flies can often be the only hatch of a trip but there are very very few flies you can find if you look at traditional scottish patterns.

[TheCream 0]

I fish mostly small water for trout, and with good flows in spring, flies smaller than about 14-16 are not necessary. The fish are aggressive and with the faster flows, they have to make a snap judgment on "eat or don't eat." In lower flow times, I will go as small as about #24 with small midge patterns because the fish seem to respond much better to them when there are smaller bugs and they have more time to examine the offering. That same #14 stimulator might spook fish for cover a month after you cleaned them up on the same stream with the same fly. Show them a #22 Griffith's Gnat and it's fish on.

[ashley 0]

thanks for the replies. I was not trying to say that micro flies are pure fashion cause I know that at times we need to match the hatch to size and form but it has just amazed me that here in UK micro flies seem to be a rare thing and in USA they have been an established form of fishing for a while. Living in scotland midges and small flies can often be the only hatch of a trip but there are very very few flies you can find if you look at traditional scottish patterns.

 

 

Hi Piker20,

 

I'm from the UK and small flies certainly aren't a rare thing on my line. I fish the streams around Salisbury and find I catch more on the micro flies because thats the size of fly that is hatching. In Scotland as well in Ireland the traditional patterns don't seem to imitate that closely the small stuff, I think it may be due to what they had available.

[Piker20 0]

I'm from the UK and small flies certainly aren't a rare thing on my line. I fish the streams around Salisbury and find I catch more on the micro flies because thats the size of fly that is hatching. In Scotland as well in Ireland the traditional patterns don't seem to imitate that closely the small stuff, I think it may be due to what they had available.

 

guess what I meant is if I look in any literature on UK flies that I have, both books and magazines, there is no mention of flies under size 16 and in the magazines (fly fishing and fly tying, and Trout and Salmon for example) it isn't until fairly recent 2000 onwards that small flies get a mention and even then its this impression of it being rare or extreme or somhow new. In Scotland there has been a history of tying summer salmon flies on tiny doubles and I can't find any evidence of patterns on tiny hooks for the trout. But then that probably reflects the balance of power held by the great salmo salar up here.

[dogsnfish 0]

As others have said, spring creeks seem to have lots of small bugs. My box has about a dozen patterns/colors all 18-22's. BWO's and midges of different types. The trout can be real picky buggers on the spring creek I usually go to.

[feathers5 0]

My buddy and I were fishing creme and black midges in sizes 26 and 28 last weekend for the midge hatch. We caught trout, but nothing over 14 inches.

[Dezod 0]

The largest BWO that I carry in my box all summer is a #18, I fish them occasionally all the way down to #24. Other then midges that is the only thing I tie and fish that small. I find that for the type of water I fish they are rarely needed that small, but when you need them... you REALLY, REALLY need them that small.

 

 

 

C

[tgard27 0]

As others have said, spring creeks seem to have lots of small bugs. My box has about a dozen patterns/colors all 18-22's. BWO's and midges of different types. The trout can be real picky buggers on the spring creek I usually go to.

I guess it just depends on the stream. The spring creek I fish certainly has a lot of small bugs hatching, but it seems that anything under 18 isn't productive. The fish almost take a cost benefit view on my stream, is it worth it to move for it? A lot of time I have better luck with a 2 fly set up, size 10 prince with a smaller caddis(14-18) trailing. Maybe it's just my stream, but I can't think of the last time that I saw the need or had results from a size 22 midge.

However in saying that, I was on madison a few years back(I know, not a spring creek by any means) and I was having luck with a size 18 X-Caddis with a #22 double trouble trailing. The guides at Blue Ribbon Flies thought that I was pulling their leg that a #22 dry fly was pulling in trout when there were larger hatches that day. But the whole week it seems that this fly was the ticket.