Let's Look at the Hook
During the twenty-some classes, shows and seminars I have worked this past fall and winter, the questions I am most often asked relate to hooks for particular patterns. For the most part, I have been a Tiemco user for many years. They are great hooks with many styles available. There are certainly other perfectly acceptable hook options besides Tiemco.
The first thing you need in a quality hook is good steel. The wire must be strong and hard enough to maintain a sharp point and be capable of fighting big fish without being so hard as to be brittle and prone to breaking. I am sorry to say that there are some hooks out there that don’t do the job. I don’t dare mention names lest I get sued. Just stay with good brand names and you will be OK.
The next thing to make sure your hooks have is chemical sharpening. The difference is dramatic. If you have ever seen a micro photograph comparing the point of a chemically sharpened hook and one that is not, you know what I mean. The hook not sharpened chemically looks downright blunt. It makes a huge difference in the hooking qualities of the hook. Who wants to have to set the hook like a tuna fisherman while fishing for trout or pan fish? Not I. I want the hook to go into the fish with the least amount of pressure and stay there.
That leads us to the next benefit of a quality hook, a very little barb. Some of the old-style, less expensive hooks that are still manufactured have a huge barb. That, coupled with the dull point, is a recipe for disaster. Not only is it hard for the dull hook to penetrate the fish’s mouth, but it is more difficult for the big barb to penetrate as well. I generally de-barb the hook, but if I choose not to or forget, the smaller barb goes in easier and then out easier. It is far easier to release the fish with the tiny barb. By the way, I de-barb the hook stream-side. I rarely break the hook in the process and sometimes if I am casting to a whale, I want a fly with a barb.
Here is the list of the hooks I use. Remember, there is no magic to Tiemco. It is simply a quality hook and the brand that I use most often.
- TMC 100 - #8-#16, Down eye, 1X fine wire, wide gap - This is my standard everyday dry fly hook.
- TMC 101 - #18-#20, Same as the 100 with a straight eye. In these smaller sizes, I feel that straight eye may open up the gap a bit for better hooking qualities.
- TMC 2488 - #20-#24, Straight eye, 3X wide, 2X short, curved shank, fine wire. This is a spectacular specialty hook that I use exclusively for little dry fly work. All of my little dry flies smaller than a standard #20 get this hook. You don’t lose fish when using this hook.
- TMC 5212 - #6-#16, Down eye, 1X fine, 2X long Similar to the TMC 100 but with a long shank.
- TMC 9300 - #8-#18, Down eye, 1X heavy, wide gap. This is very important hook that I use for the Fat Head Beetle. The Fat Head and similar flies with the humped foam back have a tendency to land point up now and then. The heavy wire TMC 9300 helps the fly land hook down.
- TMC 2487 - #10-#18, Down eye, fine wire, 2X wide, scud and pupa hook. This is my favorite bead head hook other than micro-bead heads.
- TMC 2457 - #6-#12, same as the 2487 but with 2X heavy. I like this hook for nymphs and pupa that do not have a bead head.
- TMC 3761 - #6-#20, Sproat bend, down eye 2X heavy, 1X long. This is great general purpose nymph hook.
- TMC 105 - #6 & #10, Straight eye, reversed bend, 2X strong, 5X short. This is the egg fly hook.
- TMC 300 - #2-#12, Down eye Heavy wire, 6X long Streamer hook.
- TMC 9395 - #2-#10, Straight eye 3X heavy, 4X long. This is the hook that I use when I will be fishing streamers around heavy cover, and for all Clouser-type flies (flies with lead eyes that will ride hook point up).