Northwest Fishing Reports

I was in the store, roaming down the hook isle and came across some hooks, size 26... really 26?? I thought it had to be a joke or something. These things are smaller than most of the splinters I've gotten in life. What would you use these for... fishing guppies out of your kids fish tank? They have to be to small to catch any thing that legal size..... right?

I've seen those at sportsman warehouse I think there made for finicky stream trout when there is a hatch of gnats or something. lol thats my guess

too small

maybe if you tied a mess if them together you could get the guppie. lmao.
stan.:viking:

Some folks use them to tie flys with.Not me too small.

It's not the size of the hook, it's how you work your bait.

:safe:

RaMcVey wrote:I was in the store, roaming down the hook isle and came across some hooks, size 26... really 26?? I thought it had to be a joke or something. These things are smaller than most of the splinters I've gotten in life. What would you use these for... fishing guppies out of your kids fish tank? They have to be to small to catch any thing that legal size..... right?

mabey its for catching bait of some sort.

shawn wrote:Some folks use them to tie flys with.Not me too small.

That size is too small for me to tie. I think that you would use them for a chironomid pattern.

Well, it does say "Dry Fly" on the package. I dont even have any line small enough to thread them. I'd like to fish with someone who uses them and check out the method.

The FF guys that tie them and fish those sizes use 0wt-2wt rods. Similar to 1lb-2lb mono stick.

I've often thought that a fly that small would only imitate a midge. When there is a midge hatch coming off in the millions, the chanced of your fly being taken is very slim. It would be like you going through a buffet line in a restaurant that is two miles long.

There's nothing wrong with a size 26 hook if that's what conditions call for.

Tying it onto my 40# mono is another story....

Maybe one can use them for Fishing Hat deco,..LOL.:geek:

BB

Heres a pic of them, and there are size 26 available too which are smaller

Great for jigging herring or smelt.Make a gang line with 20 or so hooks cast out off the boat in a herring ball and reel hard...Fresh Bait.

Now I have to goto the other end of the spectrum. I saw one of these last night. Blew me away to see up close. Tried to convince its owner to part with it.

It is good for a single eggs in streams I used them that small caught a 6 lb steel head on one in a creek down in Oregon. The ones I used were more circle hooks though. I can also see one used for a small fly pattern like chron. and mosquito patterns.

I used a size 26 hook on a 6 oz test human hair leader to bring this baby to the shore.
It took me three weeks to get him in...Can you say ultra light?

I'm probably dating myself, but I recall watching a TV show like Outdoor Life or The American Sportsman where they were catching 20+" trout on tiny midges. The fly was about the same size as some of the teeth on the fish they caught! I think they were filming on the Yellowstone River, big browns and bows.

RaMcVey wrote:I was in the store, roaming down the hook isle and came across some hooks, size 26... really 26?? I thought it had to be a joke or something. These things are smaller than most of the splinters I've gotten in life. What would you use these for... fishing guppies out of your kids fish tank? They have to be to small to catch any thing that legal size..... right?

Size 26 is about as small as I have ever seen, but they do work and are necessary at times - if you have the skill to use them.

They are used to tie midge adult patterns on, and are mostly if not entirely a dry fly hook. I cannot tie smaller then a 24, but I have taken 18 to 20" brown trout and up to 24" rainbows on it at a few tail water and spring creek fisheries during my time.

Just out of curiosity, did these hooks have eyes on them? The ones I have have what is called a spade eye. You don't tie the leader to it, you tie the leader to the hook as part of tying the fly and you just connect leader to leader.

You might want to repost this in the fly fishing section - you might be surprised in how many of us have used this hook.