On my dime

[jburge]

OK, so I've been on this small fly binge for a while, and got a little carried away with some Miracle Midge's...

http://takeahike.us.com/flies/miracle_midge.jpg

This is my first attempt at #20 midges. I thought the pattern was cool because it's white floss over black thread, and when it gets wet it turns to a mottled grey (thus "the miracle"). I'm thinking I need to uncross my eyes and move over to something in a #6 steelhead pattern ;-)

John

[David Lee]

Nice !!

I'm to the point now where I have the s%$ts tryin' to tye on a #10 fly on 3X . I don't think I could tye a #16 bug with a gun to my head ....

Getting old sucks .

D.~

[Hairstacker]

John, I wish I had your level of natural talent. Really. Those flies look great! =D>

David, is it an eyesight thing that's not correctible with glasses? :sad:

[jbird]

Wow thats a huge dime!!! Wait, those are small flies ;)

Really nice!

[Dean Y.]

The miracle is in how small those flies are!

Do you use some form of magnification?

If I may ask, where are you planning on fishing them?

[jburge]

Hey, thanks guys. Coming from you, that means a lot.

David, trust me I'm old enough to strain at some of these smaller sizes too. BTW, I'm borrowing your line from the "reel sound" poll as a signature. I laugh every time I read it.

Mike, thanks again for the encouragement. What you don't see there are the half-dozen attempts that didn't quite turn out right ;-)

dabbler, magnification... well, I know guys that would have no problem tying those and attaching them to their 7x tippet without any special optics. I tried to tie a few without magnifying, but found that the proportions just didn't look right, plus the ribbing didn't seem to have the proper spacing. I switched over to just one of those standard reading light magnifiers (I honestly don't know what power it is), and that seemed to make all the difference.

As far as fishing them... the majority are actually going to another swap that I'm in. But, I am keeping a few to try in the spring in some of my favorite Sierra streams.

John

[David Lee]

No problem , John .

Mind you .... I don't actually know what a Mosquito on crack sounds like , but I've heard 'em in the Oroville Wildlife area - so I have a pretty good idea of what they sound like on meth and crank .

David

[JT]

Those would work good on Putah.

[Scott V]

When I tie I now use 1.5X magnification cheater glasses. They are great and my eyes no longer get tired.

John you are a nut, next time I want to see size 26 flies. I have personally seen a 26" brown caught on a size 24 fly on the Little Truckee. I was amazed and still will be that they can see something so small in fast moving water.

[jburge]

OK Scott, you're on ;-) I'm in the middle of tying up some #8 steelhead patterns now, but it should be fun to jump back into the world of "mini-flies." And I agree, I'm stunned that the fish see these and go for 'em. Simply amazing.

John

[JT]

I have personally seen a 26" brown caught on a size 24 fly on the Little Truckee. I was amazed and still will be that they can see something so small in fast moving water.

My go-to fly on Putah and the LT is a #24 midge. You'd be surprised at the fish that will hit it. You should read Fish Food by Ralph Cutter. In one part he talks about how well fish can actually see. It's amazing.