Idoho Hiker
I was in Moscow once... nice place, especially if you like winter.

I love to tie nymphs, and I like to put eyes on them. Lets face it - you don't really need any other flies but nymphs and one is as good as another as long as it looks like a drowned bug. I've caught more fish on a #12 egg hook with a piece of red yarn tied to it, than all other flies combined.

I've been tying since I was a boyscout. I got a Sears tying kit for Christmas in 1961 and I have half a dozen flies in my collection that I tied then! I use that old vise for large hooks, and I have a tiny Orvis vice for little hooks - I tie down to size 22. I actually do a lot of my fishing with size 18 nymphs tied on Tiemco hooks and pinch the barb. The hook is so tiny it only hooks their lip.

As far as backcountry fishing - I will often allow a small nymph to float down stream as much as 40 feet, in a controlled drift, so I can feel the strikes. Often its the only way because you are actually fishing an area so far away from you that the fish can't see you. Its a way to catch the small skitzy stream trout in the Sierras.

The only time I ever caught a bunch of fish and cooked em up backpacking was down in Big Sur. I had a piece of monofilament, and egg hook and a jar of eggs. I tied the line to a stick about 3 feet long as a pole and caught a dozen trout and a turtle. I ate the largest 8 trout for dinner. I feel sorta guilt about that now. But they were really good. Its easy to live off the land in Big Sur because of an abundance eatable plants. Its easy to supplement about 50% of your food there.

Jim Tight lines

Jim