Missed your joke on the 8X, sorry (and I understand that mid-afternoon, nothin’ happening time on DePuy’s). I have found places that actually are suited to 8X, and Japan-based anglers seem to have found a few places for 11X and 12X, too (not using the “Subtract from 11″ rule there, of course!). I have some Varivas tippet material in the crazy-thin Japanese diameters, and have caught fish on it, but always little fish in smaller waters (which is the purpose of the tippet in the first place).

And yeah, the right day on Armstrong’s can make that place seem like a different world. And there are fish in there of a size that many anglers would not necessarily suspect on a typical dry-fly day. The biggest that I ever remember seeing was actually in the DePuy’s stretch back in the pre-flood days. It looked like an N.Z. fish, holding very deep in a certain blue-green pool below the middle hut. Never touched it, but wow…

Wish I was going to be on Armstrong’s on the 30th myself.

I do believe your father’s streamer fishing at Armstrong’s. But you won’t have to tell me how many he caught and how big those were because that makes me shakey!! When I heard this “tip” from a local shop, I couldn’t believe it. But when a huge brown chased a huge streamer in that clear water like a bass fishing TV program, he and I were eye to eye. He turned back but I was the one who was spooked and about to fall backward….

Actually when you are sending FFW e-list on April 30, I will be fishing at Armstrong’s.

The point is that if one is going to go that light, take the responsibility of being proactive and fully use the gear. In my mind, playing fish to total exhaustion is not an ethical C&R practice, and if one can’t manage it on 7X, go to 6X or 5X. One might hook a few less (maybe), but the end result may be more beneficial all-around.

i made up a little X to metric tippet chart that might help when dealing with different materials from outside of the states.

anyway, it’s always fun to add to the confusion ;-)

O-X = 0.28 mm
1-X = 0.25 mm
2-X = 0.23 mm
3-X = 0.20 mm
4-X = 0.18 mm
5-X = 0.15 mm
6-X = 0.13 mm
7-X = 0.10 mm
8-X = 0.08 mm

i hope it’s ok to add this here…

cheers,
marc

8X for DePuy’s? 7X (and 6X) has proven to me to be fine there, even in the sloughs, and modern 7X (at least the good stuff) is surprisingly strong, so fish can be landed quickly. (I suggest to anyone who decides to use 7X to put it to the test, so to speak, and pull harder than one thinks one should on a few fish to see what one can really do. I do not advise the use of 7X for anyone who feels that they have to treat it like gossamer web, and will end up playing a 16-inch fish for 10 minutes). To be honest, I have often fished 5X on DePuy’s (I am talking dries/emergers here, not meat-and-potatoes flies), just being sure that I was paying attention to the drag situation. If I can get the fish on 5X that means both quicker to hand and less chance of a break-off no matter what.

And yes, I have fished 2X and 3X with big streamers on Armstrong’s. The best day that my father ever had on that creek he had with streamers. Warm temps, steady rain, heavy clouds, and every brown trout in the place was looking for meat. I won’t tell you how many fish he caught that day because people tend not to believe it, but let’s just say it was eye-opening.

And thanks for the offer with the Japanese. I’d love to spend a few weeks in Japan swinging a few wets and drifting a few dries. Perhaps in ’10…

If I could be any help for you about publishing and translating Japanese, please let me know. I just wrote a letter to my brother about how to use the traditional British wet flies and soft hackles. I tied some for him, and it is really interesting to me those traditional British/American wet flies really look like traditional Japanese patterns. Used for swing.