ALI PARKIN
Part 4: Trouting in miniature
This month, Don Stazicker enters the world of fishing micro flies for summer trout
A FLY-FISHER opens their fly-box. “Which one should I use?” they ask. Their guide, looking in, replies: “None of them; they’re all too big.”
This conversation is heard daily on trout and grayling streams across the world. What is the smallest fly that you use? If you think a size 16 is small, what I am about to say will take you right out of your comfort zone. We’re going to look at a family of tiny insects that we all know well, but very few of us choose to imitate when we are fly-fishing.
Aphids
Found most commonly in temperate zones, aphids are sap-sucking insects that first appeared 280 million years ago. They have a worldwide distribution. Flying as high as 600 metres, winds can carry them great distances.
They are destructive pests, damaging cultivated plants by sucking their sap and exuding honeydew, a sticky excretion that supports the growth of moulds that disfigure ornamental plants. Gardeners commonly know them as greenflies and blackflies, although they come in many different colours besides those two; brown, amber and pink are common. Some are colourless.
Think you know what a population explosion is? Your perception of the term will likely change when you learn how quickly aphids multiply. They can reproduce sexually, requiring a male and female to do so, but they are also capable of asexual reproduction, where a male is not required. They can alternate between these two methods. Regardless of the method of reproduction, they give birth to live young, which, in a further boost to population numbers, are already pregnant when born. Some species can have over 40 generations in a season, giving a single female the potential to produce 600 billion descendants weighing a combined 120 tons.
A trout quietly sipping aphids on a hot summer’s day.
DON STAZICKER
Fortunately, they are the target of predators such as birds and insects, including ladybirds, parasitic wasps, spiders, and the larvae of hoverflies, lacewings and aphid midges that consume vast numbers. Without these creatures, we’d be buried in the tiny insects. Equally fortunate for the fly-fisher is that aphids are consumed by trout and grayling. Sounds great, doesn’t it? An insect that’s available to trout and grayling in enormous numbers for most of the fishing season. But there is a catch.
An insect that’s available to trout and grayling in enormous numbers for most of the fishing season
Size
Aphids are probably the smallest prey items it’s practical to imitate with artificial flies. Their length varies from 1mm-4mm. Take a deep breath before you read the following words. We’re talking hooks in the size 26-30 range. I’ve tied them on the size 32 TMC 518, the smallest eyed fly-hook ever made. Now sadly discontinued. Some patterns are tied on size 20-22 hooks, but these imitate a cluster of several aphids.
Aphids from a trout’s throat: matching these will require the smallest fly available.
DON STAZICKER
I know what you’re thinking: there’s no way flies tied on such tiny hooks can be practical. They’ll be impossible to see on the water, assuming we can even tie them on, and they won’t land large fish even if, given the hook’s microscopic gape, we hook them.
Have faith; there are ways to thread these tiny hooks onto our tippets and make them easier to spot on the water. Modern small hooks are more than capable of landing large fish. If it’s any reassurance, my largest brown trout caught using a size 32 hook weighed 6½lb.
If it’s any reassurance, my largest brown trout caught using a size 32 hook weighed 6½lb
Hooks
The biggest barrier to landing large fish hooked on tiny flies used to be tippet strength, or rather the lack of it. Today, modern tippet material is incredibly strong, even in low diameters. The result is that the weak point in the system may now be the hook itself. Manufacturers have responded to this by making tiny hooks with heavier wire. The hooks are so small that the slight increase in weight, usually around ten per cent, won’t sink the fly. A small hook penetrates fully, even in a thin layer of tissue, resulting in the hook bend being fully supported. This increases its resistance to opening out.
Some fly-fishers feel it is essential to use a hook with the point offset if you wish to hook fish consistently. The original Partridge Vince Marinaro Midge Hooks (K1A) had a slight offset to the right if you were looking down on the hook point. But virtually no modern tiny hooks feature offset points. I have used many brands with no offset, and I’ve found they all hook well.
Don’s Ahid pattern tied on a size 32, with a simple thread body (coloured with marker pen) and white Zelon, polypropylene yarn or CDC puff wing.
DON STAZICKER
A hook with an upturned eye might have a larger gape than one with a down eye or a straight (ring) eye. I think this is a theoretical consideration, and virtually all modern hooks come with a down eye or a ring eye. These latter options create a better angle of pull than an upturned eye.
Incidentally, you might assume that all tiny hooks are barbless, but this is not so; many have tiny barbs. It’s essential to de-barb them, otherwise removing them from the fish’s jaw is extremely difficult. I use a magnifier when de-barbing the hook, and to check that I’ve done it completely. Do this at home in bright light.
Knots
Another concern is that the tippet knot might add considerable bulk to a tiny fly. Experiments performed with 7X tippet tied to a size 32 hook using a three-turn Uni Knot showed the knot to be significantly smaller than the hook’s eye. Those who have suggested that a Turle Knot might solve the problem of bulk have obviously never tried to tie one to a size 32! If you left enough space on the hook shank for a Turle Knot, there would be no room for the dressing.
When to fish aphids
You’ll encounter aphids in the UK from spring through to autumn, with them most active between May and July. This makes them a great option when you must fish during the middle of the day in the so-called “dog days” of summer. The bright sunshine and elevated temperatures common at this time of day make hatches of aquatic flies unlikely, but those same conditions increase the activity of terrestrial insects, making it more likely that they will fall into the water.
Sycamore leaves, a favourite of aphids. Also easier to see if they are present here, than on the water.
DON STAZICKER
If fish rise to something that’s hard to see after a gust of wind has shaken the leaves, aphids are likely what is being eaten
It’s difficult to see a natural aphid on the water as anything other than a tiny blob, so positive identification is almost impossible. But there are clues that tell you when trout and grayling are feeding on aphids. Examine the underside of the leaves on trees overhanging the river and you will frequently find large numbers of aphids in both their winged and wingless forms and in a wide range of sizes. Sycamore trees are hosts to multiple aphid species. If fish rise to something that’s hard to see after a gust of wind has shaken the leaves, aphids are likely what is being eaten. Rain can also wash them into the water.
In the autumn, it’s not unusual to see fish bumping floating leaves to dislodge insects that are clinging to them, and it’s usually aphids that are the cause. The main thing to remember is that trout and grayling have always eaten aphids; it’s just that when confronted with a fish rising to a food form too tiny to see, fly-fishers have assumed that they are “midging” or “smutting”. Discover what is really being eaten by sampling the water with a fine-mesh net. Hold it in the fish’s food lane to collect whatever is on, in or just below the surface.
How to fish micro flies for river trout
Fishing the aphid
You might think that with size 32 hooks we would be in the land of 8X tippet or below. And yes, there are materials thinner than 8X. Tippet with a diameter of 0.06mm (0.00236”) is slightly thinner than 8.5X! Its claimed breaking strain of 12oz means you won’t be taking the fight to the fish any time soon.
But there’s no need to fish this fine — 5X tippet will thread through the eye of a size 32 TMC 518. A tippet of this diameter will be too stiff to present the fly drag-free, but modern 6X and 7X materials will work well. I fish hooks of size 26 and below on 7X, increasing to 6X if there’s a good chance of a big fish. The 6½lb brown trout mentioned earlier was landed with a size 32 tied to 6X tippet. The hook and tippet combination was strong enough to let me control the fish and bring it to the net quickly, ensuring it revived well and swam away strongly. The hook was fully embedded with its bend supported, and showed no deformation, despite me fighting the fish with a fast action five-weight rod.
These tiny hooks are hard to thread onto a tippet, but there are some tricks that can help. Magnifiers or bifocal glasses make everything easier. I prefer magnifiers that fit under the peak of my cap, allowing me to use non-prescription polarising glasses. Cut your tippet at an angle to create a point that will seek the eye of the hook. Also, take the fly out of the fly-box using fine haemostats (forceps) to hold the hook bend. Keep the fly locked in the haemostats while you thread the tippet, then tie the knot and clip the excess.
A trout inspecting an artificial aphid. Will it be put off by the tippet?
DON STAZICKER
If you are having trouble locating the eye of the hook, C&F fly boxes are available with wire threaders that make it a lot easier. You thread several flies onto the threader, at home in good light. On the water, pass your tippet through the threader, pull the fly off the threader, and it’s on the tippet — magic! The threaders come in different sizes, and the finest works well with size 30 flies.
Alternatively, you can tie 18-24in of tippet to the fly, tie a Perfection Loop knot on the other end and attach it to your leader with a loop-to-loop connection. For storage, I embed the hook in a block of foam, wind the tippet around the foam and secure the loop with a plastic-headed map pin. Circular EVA foam rigging blocks are ideal for this.
When fishing flies this small, you don’t want to sink the tippet; it will just drag the fly under
When fishing flies this small, you don’t want to sink the tippet; it will just drag the fly under. For this reason, I use copolymer nylon and avoid fluorocarbon. I grease the fly-line tip, all the leader and the tippet to within six inches of the fly. I don’t grease or degrease the last section; I simply use it as it comes off the spool. Greasing the last few inches will make the tippet appear thicker, and as it floats fine without grease, why bother? A high-floating line and leader don’t drag the fly underwater when you lift off, which avoids saturating your fly.
Aphids are so tiny and light that they are unlikely to penetrate the surface film, and I’ve never required a sunk imitation. I always want these flies to float, so I pre-treat them with a hydrophobic liquid such as Loon Fly Dip or Hareline Watershed. Neither material is suitable for use on flies that you intend to fish immediately. I treat my flies at least 24 hours prior to use. The pre-treatment penetrates completely, eliminating any chance of water soaking into the fly’s body.
You can quickly dry pre-treated flies, even with CDC wings, either by false casting or by blowing on them. As with any terrestrial, once aphids are on the water they will not escape. They may struggle feebly but make little surface disturbance. The ideal presentation is therefore a drag-free drift.
A little slack in the line secures a drag-free drift.
ALI PARKIN
I avoid presenting the fly directly upstream, as the tippet and part of the leader will land over the fish and may spook it. More importantly, if the fish’s head hits the tippet, it is quite likely that the tiny, weightless artificial fly will be pulled out of its mouth before you can set the hook. It’s important to make sure the fish has closed its mouth and turned down before you strike. There’s no rush; fish don’t spit these small flies out quickly.
Fish feeding on aphids often hold close to the surface where the diameter of their window is very small. To avoid spooking them, it’s essential to distance the fly-line from the fish by using a long leader combined with a long tippet to minimise drag. However, this is not a combination that reliably delivers the pinpoint casting accuracy needed to put a floating fly into the fish’s small window, and a compromise between leader length and accuracy may be necessary.
My preferred set-up is a Loop 7X 8ft 8in three-weight rod, an Opti Creek reel and a Rio Technical Trout WF3 floating line. I use a Synchro 13ft dry-fly leader to 5.5X with between 4-6ft of 6X or 7X copolymer nylon tippet attached via a 1mm tippet ring.
When fishing flies this small, you don’t want to sink the tippet; it will just drag the fly under
Visability
All this subtlety is very well, but how do we see such a small fly on the water? Well, it’s surprising just how visible a white CDC wing can be, especially when you’re aided by a floating leader pointing the way to the fly. On smooth water, where fish often feed on aphids, it’s not too hard to spot such a fly at 35 feet. You can make the fly a little more obvious by dusting it with a desiccant like Frog’s Fanny.
Paired down materials and a simple dressing are required at this scale.
ALI PARKIN
If you’re still struggling to see the fly, then a small blob of Loon Biostrike floating indicator putty, placed on the leader two feet from the fly, will make location far easier. Alternatively, you could fish a two-fly set-up by tying two feet of tippet to the bend of a Parachute Adams with a highly visible wing post. Paint pens used for highlighting leader sections when Euro-nymphing can make a six-inch section of the leader highly visible.
Tying aphid patterns
Amazingly, for an insect that’s available worldwide and which trout and grayling frequently target, there are relatively few fly patterns available. Many excellent books written about terrestrial flies ignore this major food source completely.
As with tying any small fly, the secret is to keep things as simple as possible
As with tying any small fly, the secret is to keep things as simple as possible. Aphids have a small head and thorax and a large, bulbous abdomen. All can be imitated with tying thread. The simplest method is to wind thread along the hook shank, build multiple layers of thread to create the bulbous abdomen, tie in the wing and create the small thorax and head with the whip finish knot. Thread colour should match the aphid’s body, or you can use white thread coloured with a permanent marker. If you use the latter method, colour the thread after you have finished the fly; just make sure the ink from the pen doesn’t bleed into the wing roots.
Modern, thinner, stronger threads have simplified the tying of tiny flies. White gel-spun polyethylene (GSP) thread takes on a wonderful translucence when coloured with a permanent marker, and it’s available down to 10 denier — half the diameter of a human hair and ten times as strong as steel of the same diameter. It is fine enough to tie the smallest fly. GSP thread has a low coefficient of friction, requiring more turns around the shank to stop it slipping. This isn’t an issue because the fine thread creates very little bulk; it’s just something you need to be aware of.
This brownie fell for a classic green imitation, but not all aphids are green — in the UK some are brown, amber and even pink.
ALI PARKIN
Some tiers prefer threads that avoid the filamentous, flattened nature of GSP, and for them, something like Semperfli’s 18/0 Classic Waxed Thread works well. It is fine enough for the smallest fly, strong and easy to control because it is significantly less slippery and unlikely to separate into individual fibres. Whichever thread you choose, varnishing the fly’s body will increase its durability. UV resin produces a lovely shiny finish but adds excess weight. I prefer either a water-based head cement or nail varnish thinned with acetone to the consistency of water.
Like all insects, aphids have six legs. These can be imitated with picked-out dubbing fibres or a few turns of a tiny hackle, but they are so small that omitting them from a pattern doesn’t decrease its effectiveness. A lightly palmered hackle can improve visibility and flotation for flies that will be fished on rough water, but is not required for flat-water patterns.
Aphids exist in both winged and wingless forms. There is a single pair of transparent wings, colourless on aphids with light-coloured bodies and transparent grey on those with black bodies. The wings can be twice as long as the fly’s body. They are held together over the aphid’s body when it is at rest but can splay sideways when the insect is trapped in the surface film. When this happens, the wings resemble those of a spent spinner, flat in the film.
The wings can be twice as long as the fly’s body
Peter Hayes’ Chenille Aphid tied on a size 26 Gamakatsu C12-BM, with its larger eye, a body of fine suede chenille (nylon core for melting), green thread body to match, and a fine synthetic fibre for the hackle/wing.
DON STAZICKER
Many synthetic materials work well as wings. Thin strips of Medallion Sheeting or Zing Wing look very realistic. Stranded materials, such as Zelon, polypropylene yarn, Antron, Crystal Flash, and Angel Hair are easily tied in and very durable. A small clump of fine synthetic dubbing, combed until the fibres lie parallel, tied in at one end then cut to length, is equally effective.
My favourite natural wing material is white, grey or dun CDC feather fibre, and this is one application where small CDC puff feathers come into their own. Select sufficient fibres for the wing, wet them with saliva, then cut them free from the feather. Wetting keeps the fibres under control while you tie them and cut them to length. Once the fly is complete, rub the fibres between your finger and thumb to fluff them up.
Many of the techniques discussed here apply not only to aphids but to fishing imitations of any prey item in the 1-4mm size range.
Success when fishing aphids and other tiny flies involves spotting feeding activity and fishing with an appropriately delicate outfit. But, most of all, be confident that they will work.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Don Stazicker
Don Stazicker is the president of Cressbrook and Litton Flyfishers in Derbyshire, England, and co-author — with Peter Hayes — of The Flies that Trout Prefer. Why they work and how to tie and fish them.
