does size matter?

The forums are very quiet

The Global FlyFisher forum has existed for almost as long as the site, and the oldest posts are more than 20 years old. Forums aren't what they used to be. Social media has taken over a lot of their roles, and the GFF form is very quiet ... to put it mildly.
We keep everything online for the sake of history, and preserve the posts for as long as possible, but as you will see, quite a few of them aren't in a good shape, but rely on old images hosted elsewhere, which are no longer available, odd codes from old systems and much more, which can't be shown in a decent way.
But the posts are here, and you can - if you insist - start new threads. But don't stay awake waiting for replies, because they are unfortunately few and far apart.
Martin

Fly fishing - Fish Better

Hi evrybody,
what a question. Here the flyfishinng background to it (for the rest, I think Martin is trying to maintain a G rating).
Trout season is over in my river, I was anyhow in the area, pike is still open, so I packed a heavy rod (and some spinning gear) and tried my luck.
The only fish besides a couple of takes that were for sure no pike, was a 35 cm brown trout on a Matuka streamer on a 3/0 salmon hook, probably 10m to 15 cm long (4 to 6 inches for those who think imperial), which was obviously released :) . Normally I fish streamers size 8 and have sometimes the impression that the fish are reluctant. I have caught trout on such large irons before, bur never given it much thought,
What would be your view/experience on this? Early spawning aggresiveness. An idea on what trout can handle as feed? I know the rule of thumb that northern pike take fish up to a third of thier body length.
TL and dry socks
Florian

Florian,

Although I have caught big trout on very small flies, I have also had some smaller fish on huge flies. I remember one from back when I did a lot of float tubing, and trolled a cod fly tied on a 2/0 hook behind the tube as I was paddling towards the shore. The fly was a good 20 cm (or about 8 inches) and the fish probably 35 or 14 inches or so. The fish could barely open its mouth wide enough to gape over the hook, but still struck with vigor! It was pretty deeply hooked by the large hook.
Maybe it didn't want to eat the "quarry", but just scare it. Judging from the hook set, it looked like it wanted to swallow everything, though.

The same fly caught me the biggest fish I ever got from the tube. Same technique, same vigor, but this fish was more like 90 centimeters or 35 inches. A slim winter fish, but still a decent catch.

I rarely fish with flies that large, but my experience from fishing my normal fly sizes (up to 4-5 centimeters or a couple of inches) is that fingerlings in the 10-20 centimeter or 4-8 inch range will willingly strike at these flies and ever so often get hooked.

Greedy little fish
[img:735d551b96]http://10stille.dk/pictures/10stille/20040417/lille.jpg[/img:735d551b96]

This one was caught spin fishing. The lure is about one third to half the size of the fish, but of course slimmer (seen in the background)
[img:735d551b96]http://10stille.dk/pictures/10stille/20040712/smolt.jpg[/img:735d551b96]

Martin

Florian,

Although I have caught big trout on very small flies, I have also had some smaller fish on huge flies. I remember one from back when I did a lot of float tubing, and trolled a cod fly tied on a 2/0 hook behind the tube as I was paddling towards the shore. The fly was a good 20 cm (or about 8 inches) and the fish probably 35 or 14 inches or so. The fish could barely open its mouth wide enough to gape over the hook, but still struck with vigor! It was pretty deeply hooked by the large hook.
Maybe it didn't want to eat the "quarry", but just scare it. Judging from the hook set, it looked like it wanted to swallow everything, though.

The same fly caught me the biggest fish I ever got from the tube. Same technique, same vigor, but this fish was more like 90 centimeters or 35 inches. A slim winter fish, but still a decent catch.

I rarely fish with flies that large, but my experience from fishing my normal fly sizes (up to 4-5 centimeters or a couple of inches) is that fingerlings in the 10-20 centimeter or 4-8 inch range will willingly strike at these flies and ever so often get hooked.

Greedy little fish
[img:735d551b96]http://10stille.dk/pictures/10stille/20040417/lille.jpg[/img:735d551b96]

This one was caught spin fishing. The lure is about one third to half the size of the fish, but of course slimmer (seen in the background)
[img:735d551b96]http://10stille.dk/pictures/10stille/20040712/smolt.jpg[/img:735d551b96]

Martin

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