How small?

[Dejon Hamann]

Purely related to competition: how small do you tie? 

In the past year I've rarely, if ever, touch any hooks 20 or smaller.  Usually my smallest goes on an 18 european barbless scud hook... which might even be more akin to a smallish NorthAmerican 16.  Shortshanking, even a total body length (minus tail) shorter than the hook point helps to create some smaller profile flies... all though i do get to wondering on occasion what the fish might be thinking seeing this tiny fly floating down river on a large black twig.

So, how small do you tie and why?  In my experience 18/20 is usually the limit for most comp anglers.

[Pat Weiss]

I carry quite a few flies in the #20-#22 range.  I havent gotten much use out of them this year, partially due to the timing of the comps.  If there were more midsummer/fall comps I would get some use out of them, or if I was able to get back out to the Cup again.  I caught my fish in th Clarion ClassicII on #20's, but since them I really havent seen a need for them especially with the nice water levels we have had this year.  Ive always been a big fan of small flies.

[Aaron Laing]

I would be hard pressed to try anything small than an 18 scud hook in a competition, but then again I've never competed on a system where midges and tricos predominate.

Lately I've been using some #20 C49s flies as part of my FN practice (and catching fish with them), but in a comp... I dunno.

Aaron

[Dell Neighbours]

After the spanking I took in the summer series yesterday I decided I had to tie up some smaller bugs.  I ended up using size 18 c49s hooks I had laying around and tied a few up small.  I'm going to test them on some big fish tomorrow and see how they hold up.  The wire is really thin so we'll see.

[Aaron Laing]

I ended up using size 18 c49s hooks I had laying around and tied a few up small.  I'm going to test them on some big fish tomorrow and see how they hold up.  The wire is really thin so we'll see.

I think you'll be surprised at how well they hold up. I've been using these hooks for years and I've been really impressed with them. I just wish they would make a light wire/barbless version in the larger sizes. I have a killer Western Green Drake emerger/cripple that craves a lighter hook. I still use #8 and #6 on them, but the heavy wire really cuts down on the float time. I tried the Knapek CN as a substitute, but as you'd expect they sink like a stone

[Rob Twombly]

Fishing the South Platte tail-waters in Cheeseman and Deckers sometimes requires really small stuff.  The difference between success and failure can be going from 22 to 24 or 26.  This is somewhat different than what many of you guys do on a regular basis because of the nature of this fishery, which is my home fishery.  I think you would be surprised how well smaller hooks hold up(I mainly use tiemco on anything smaller than 18).  I have maybe one or two hook failures a year which comprises of several hundred landed fish.  I would prefer a larger fly certainly but with a good rod moderate action soft tipped rod you can do pretty well landing some beasts.  I like a 6x mono tippet.  The mono tippet fails far more than the hooks but I wont use flourocarbon as a matter of environmental principal.  a 5x flouro tippet will hold really well and be just as invisible or moreso than a 6x mono if you use that.  That all being said about 25% of my catches come on the anchor fly which is often a 14 tunghead prince.   Another tactic I use when I don't want to fish tiny is put some wet flys in place of the midges if there is a caddis or mayfly that could be hatching.  Its a nice change up to the fish, can be really effective and allows me to put the boots to a fish.