Fly Boy Talks Hook & Fly Sizes

Catching fish is all about presentation and the offering. You’ve got to have the combination of the right fly fishing fly, the right hook size, and a good drift.

“Fly” is a pretty general term. The term generates from the original flies were tied to represent….well flying insects.

Nowadays though, there are tons of patterns representing everything from a worm to a mouse to, you guessed it, flying insects. The choices of patterns available is staggering. We have over 3,500 patterns available at  RiverBum in a variety of sizes, and well north of 250,000 flies in stock at any given time.

Hook and Fly Sizes Matter

Hook sizes, and tippet, are a bit odd to me. The scale seems just backwards to me. A size 2 fly is much larger than a 12. A size 24 you can barely see the eye never mind getting the tippet through if you’re optically challenged like I am.

Rant aside, most of my trout fly fishing is done with flies from size 6 to size 24. What is the best size to use…well the one the fish wants of course. OK, not funny, I won’t quit my day job to be a comedian, but it is a very true statement for sure.

Must Have Flies

I was asked to write up a list of must flies. I published this about a year ago, Don’t Buy That Fly. This is more or less a starter kit. Truth is though, there is not a one size fits all approach. Each angler will most certainly need specific flies for their specific waters based on the region of the country they are in. You’re not going to find a whole lot of Eastern Green Drakes in California. Just sayin.

Choose Flies Based on Where You're Fishing

Do some research on your home waters. You need to find out what type of fish are in the water you want to go fishing in and what kinds of bugs might those fish be eating based on the time of the year you are fishing. Then buy some flies that represent those bugs you are likely to find. I refer to most flies as bugs, it’s just a thing. “Bugs” can be anything. They could be streamer flies, or worms or leaches or crawdads or even fish eggs.

Fly Shopping

Shopping for flies is fun. Don’t get overwhelmed by it. We’ve got some great search capability on our site. Punch in key words like “caddis”, “worm” etc. and you’ll get what you need. We’ve also categorized the selections out nicely so you can comb through quite effectively.

I’ve always found it curious when I hear all the research folks will do on a rod, a net, a reel etc. and give very little thought to their flies and worse the fly quality. We source the best quality flies in the marketplace today, barr none. Drag the hook of one of our flies across your finger nail, it will stick. Those are chemically sharpened Daiichi hooks baby!

Maximize your time on the water. Get some good quality flies appropriate for what you after and the time of year you’re going. Next, master the drift……but that’s a topic for another day.

Tight Lines and Screaming Drags!