Popper question

[BilletHead]

8 minutes ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

The buggy whip made it to the truck at least😆

Love it. 

[tjm]

20 hours ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

On the Colorado River we used 10 pound mono tippet with size 12 - 16 flies.  Trout didn't care at all.

Not exactly the point of whether the fish care, my point is  that the delicacy is in the user not in the fly fishing. Probably half or more of my current  fly fishing is not for trout and with a 12-15# tippet. But still 3X/8#  is good for down to at least #16 and I rarely need to go smaller than that for trout. I've also caught thousands of trout with #8 & #9 rods and lines. And thousands more on 6-7 weights. Fly fishing for trout is only as delicate as the user wants it to be.  ( I did get pretty delicate with the 9wt in still water, using #24 flies on 8X tippets 16' leaders a lot, but if fishing streamers an 8-12# tippet would be better.)

As to trout caring about line size, a long time (50 years?)  ago before I started fly fishing, I ran experiments using bait and nylon mono varying from 20# test  to 1# test in very clear water about 5' deep but where I could easily watch the fish approach and take the baits. I found that line size and visibility did not affect the trout taking the baits, if all baits were on similar line sizes, but if the line size was greatly different the fish would take on the bait with the smallest line first. On very bright days the shadows from even the finest lines seemed to put the fish off. 

The only reason I found for ever using smaller tippets is to allow more freedom of movement to the fly in a dead drift, for less drag. With spinning gear the smaller lines make casting easier. 6-8# worked fine for me back then, yet I see many folks using  much lighter more delicate lines. I think it is creating the romance of trout fishing and that they are somehow special.

[Flysmallie]

41 minutes ago, tjm said:

I think it is creating the romance of trout fishing and that they are somehow special.

I'd rather fish for bluegill. 

[snagged in outlet 3]

1 hour ago, Flysmallie said:

I'd rather fish for bluegill. 

Nice ones for sure

[Flysmallie]

27 minutes ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

Nice ones for sure

Biggest is best 

[Flysmallie]

25 minutes ago, Flysmallie said:

Biggest is best 

Too bad that the littlest ones are the most fun. But you can't be posting pictures of those on the internet. What would your friends think. 

 

 

[Johnsfolly]

On 6/18/2024 at 12:51 PM, snagged in outlet 3 said:

Honestly, I got tired of 5 and 6x tippets and the delicate nature of fly fishing for trout.  

That's a big reason that I would rip those F9 and F11 Rapalas for brown trout. I can't fly cast a tiny dry fly very well. So give me fish willing to eat another fish than one gently sipping midge from the surface. I never begrudged when every so often a 18+ inch rainbow decided to eat 😁. Of course now my shoulder gets unhappy after a day out 😉.

When the kids were growing up I did have to learn to throw microjigs on 2# line to get consistent bites in the trout parks.