You gotta be kidding!

I was just down to the local Just-Bring-$$$ fly shop to get a lay of the
land. I knew they had nothing under $100, but that was expected. What I
wasn't prepared for was the shock I received when I went over to the fly
bins and looked for nymphs, the one's that are supposed to be active in my
local watery. Holy crap!

What the heck am I supposed to do with a no. 18 nymph? Hell, I get eye
sleep bigger than these things. I could barely even see them and they were
black. I have no idea where the hook or the eye is. Tying one is beyond
the scope of my imagination ...unless it's the Hubble. What tippet will fit
these micro midges? My 7 mil taper tip has to be bigger than the hook
shank. Do I tie on an even smaller tippet? If so, what? Pixie dental
floss? Spider silk?

nb ....rudely awoken

notbob wrote:
I was just down to the local Just-Bring-$$$ fly shop to get a lay of the
land. I knew they had nothing under $100, but that was expected. What I
wasn't prepared for was the shock I received when I went over to the fly
bins and looked for nymphs, the one's that are supposed to be active in my
local watery. Holy crap!

What the heck am I supposed to do with a no. 18 nymph? Hell, I get eye
sleep bigger than these things. I could barely even see them and they were
black. I have no idea where the hook or the eye is. Tying one is beyond
the scope of my imagination ...unless it's the Hubble. What tippet will fit
these micro midges? My 7 mil taper tip has to be bigger than the hook
shank. Do I tie on an even smaller tippet? If so, what? Pixie dental
floss? Spider silk?

nb ....rudely awoken

Size 18 is not a "small" nymph, it's a typical sized nymph, and if you
can't see well enough to tie one on you should find another hobby. A
tippet of 4x should thread just fine. In fact, you should be able to get
another 4x tippet through the eye for a dropper. Cut the tippet at an
angle with a sharp pair of nippers, and make sure that you aren't using
****ty flies with crowded heads.

Here's a suggestion, offered in the generous spirit of one fly fisherman
to another:

Go out on your favorite stream with a small-mesh net and turn over some
rocks. Catch the detritus. You'll probably find lots of naturals far
smaller than size 18.

That's what the fish are probably eating.

I take it that you're a spin fisherman who's new to fly fishing, but I
haven't been paying a lot of attention to your posts, other than that
you're ****ed about Orvis prices. Right on.

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

"rw" wrote


Go out on your favorite stream with a small-mesh net and turn over some
rocks. Catch the detritus. You'll probably find lots of naturals far
smaller than size 18.

That's what the fish are probably eating.



That is probably the best advice you are likely to get and if taken
seriously can vastly speed up any efforts to really become a knowledgable
fly fisherman..

...... you see,

'waving a stick' is NOT the central essence of fly fishing ...

understanding the natural food forms of our prey, is

......

and since in the case of trout, those food forms are mostly very small, we
end up using a system of casting that allows us to fish with nearly
weight-less and very small lures ... i.e. we 'wave sticks'

in other words, the casting system is the result of and follows from, the
small food items, historically

..........and currently in the minds of many anglers ( although the 'fad' of
fly fishing is based on the cool looking 'stick waving' not really even
fishing, in many cases )

Go to the Dollar Store and get a half dozen pairs of reading glasses in
the 2X to 4X range and get matching straps (they are easy to lose on
the stream - the straps cut down losses). This will help you thread
those flies. I have always said by the time most people get the
patience for fly fishing they can't see the flies.

I will also chime in that an 18 is on the small end of normal. My one
staple winter fly is a 22 Zebra midge and the BWOs coming out now on
the limestoners are alos in the 22 size range.


--
JeffK
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On Mar 8, 7:33 pm, notbob wrote:

What the heck am I supposed to do with a no. 18 nymph?

Hang a #24 dropper off it.

Your pal,

TBone

rw wrote:

angle with a sharp pair of nippers, and make sure that you aren't using
****ty flies with crowded heads.

ooh... good tip. thnx

Go out on your favorite stream with a small-mesh net and turn over some
rocks. Catch the detritus. You'll probably find lots of naturals far
smaller than size 18.

Dang, I was gonna do that today, but it snowed last night.... again.

I take it that you're a spin fisherman who's new to fly fishing, but I
haven't been paying a lot of attention to your posts, other than that
you're ****ed about Orvis prices. Right on.

Busted.

But, I see some things Orvis offers are not really not overly expensive
when compared with other stuff out there.

nb

JeffK wrote:
Go to the Dollar Store and get a half dozen pairs of reading glasses in
the 2X to 4X range and get matching straps (they are easy to lose on
the stream - the straps cut down losses). This will help you thread
those flies. I have always said by the time most people get the
patience for fly fishing they can't see the flies.

Thanks for the advice, Jeff. I used to be a machinist and could
visually scale 0.005" easily. Now, in my geezer yrs, I need everything
from magnifying glasses to watchmaker loops. No prob, I will endeavor
to persevere (and invest in more glass!).

nb

Larry L wrote:


'waving a stick' is NOT the central essence of fly fishing ...

What?!?!

Hell.

The only part I'm good at......

Larry L wrote:
..... you see,

'waving a stick' is NOT the central essence of fly fishing ...

understanding the natural food forms of our prey, is

.....

Well, different strokes for different folks but understanding
the natural food forms of our prey is the central essence of
aquatic biology. The central essence of fly fishing, for me,
is the art of casting a near weightless imitation of that food
with a fly rod. The casting of a fly rod is the one thing that
separates fly fishing from all other forms of fishing and so to
me "waving a stick" is most certainly the essence of fly fishing.

--
Ken Fortenberry

"Ken Fortenberry" wrote

The central essence of fly fishing, for me,
is the art of casting a near weightless imitation of that food
with a fly rod. The casting of a fly rod is the one thing that
separates fly fishing from all other forms of fishing and so to
me "waving a stick" is most certainly the essence of fly fishing.



Well, 'central essence' may be a bad choice of wording ... my point is that
fly casting follows from trying to fish with tiny nearly weightless lures.

The original central problem was how to catch those extremely exciting to
watch, delicious looking g, fish eating mayflies and such,.... fly
casting was the solution.

It's only recently ( within my lifetime ) that the opposite approach of
starting with the casting system and trying to make it suit fishing where it
is, honestly put, a handicap, has become the fad. There is no doubt that
there are anglers that choose casting method over fishing efficiency, but
that is not why fly fishing developed ... in fact I'd argue that deadly
effectiveness in some situations is the 'why' of fly fishing ...

Also, it's impossible to fly fish well without good casting skills ... that
is for sure. Casting skill is more important than naming bugs and such, I
don't imply otherwise.

But, from a fishing pov ( at least mine ), the need to fly cast follows the
desire to catch trout that are eating tiny food forms, not from some
intrinsic desire to 'fly cast for fly casting's sake.'

I'm NOT saying that entomology and Latin is needed ( or that helpful ) or
that casting huge, heavy, lures with heavy fly rods isn't fly fishing ( it
is incredibly inefficient fishing, but still fly fishing ).

NotBob seemed shocked at the size of lure used .... I'm simply saying that
fly casting is the result of that size, and the lure size results from
natural food form size .... i.e. the bugs ( the flies) are where the sport
started, the bamboo and silk and tight loops and dubbing and hackle followed
behind ... word that relationship as you will .... I think of it as saying
that the naturals are 'the essence" of this type of fishing


Larry L ( who hasn't owned any tackle except fly rods since August of 1971
..... but I'm only motivated by trout fishing for visible fish, ......
other forms of fishing bore me on the rare occasions I borrow tackle and try
them .. OR try to make a fly rod do what it's poorly equipped to do ...
form follows function ;- )


P.S. I don't think there is anything 'wrong' with finding the casting to
be the sports major pleasure, it works of lots of anglers and I'm glad they
get that pleasure. For me, the major pleasure is loving the places trout
live, followed by fooling the fish. I usually choose to fish places
where the less you cast the more you catch, and casts are only made ot fish
that can be seen. BUT I DO find pleasure in a cast well executed and I
definitely seek out the challenge of difficult lies ( casting tests ) as
they tend to hold the best fish. Much as I get bored quickly with most
fishing, I can't practice cast for 5 minutes without yawning ... for me,
casting 'follows from' the fishing, it isn't the major element of it G