All I need is more things to fiddle with and nothing stirring to eat my creations. They say that’s what Winter is for and it appears as if I’m going to give Old Daytripper a run for his money…
Togen fish hooks caught my eye recently, a Japanese hook marketed by the Togen fly shop in Canada, their appearance is akin to a Tiemco, light colored bronzing, sharp small points (chemically sharpened), well formed and graceful, and really cheap…
My shipment showed this morning – I’d ordered the “scud” style (#18528), dry fly (#26528), 1X Nymph (#18538), and Natural Bend (#16428), figuring that would give me a nice cross section of the trout styles for testing purposes.
The “Natural Bend” is an elongated hook and #20’s are about the size of a traditional #16, I ordered #20 – #16’s to accommodate the normal sizes I use.
Really nice hooks, nicely formed eyes, and I managed to imbed a point in my finger just opening the plastic bag – so they’re plenty sharp.
Now the “Good News” – they’re $7.00 US per hundred hooks, so it may be time to think on what you’re currently using. Togen sells them in packs of 100, or packs of 1000 – you can mix and match sizes and styles to build the 1000 pack. The price drops to $6.80 US per 100 if ordered in the “mix and match” 1000 bundles.
My thoughts on the subject are well documented. 100 years ago almost every fish hook in the world came from Redditch, England. No matter what the label said, it was a Sealy, a Partridge, or an Allcock. I think the same holds true today – no matter what the label says, it’s likely a Tiemco, Gamakatsu, or an affiliated factory.
As nothing else is biting, I may have to try these in the seafood aisle of my supermarket, I think I saw a Catfish fillet that weighed enough to deform a #20 – that’s if the damn Mergansers don’t beat me to it…
Technorati Tags: togen fish hooks, togen fly shop, canada
$7/hundred, NICE! How strong are they?
The nymph wire appears equal to a 3906B Mustad, the “Natural Bend” is a light wire hook (probably due to its shape), and the dry fly hood is similar to a TMC 100.
I will test them for deformation on some tree branches this weekend…as I can no longer promise receptive fish lips..
Alex,
I’ll throw some in an envelope and toss it in the mail. Both of us testing them would be better than one “fishless” SOB pretending a tree limb was an enraged Brown Trout.
I think that “natural bend” hook is an elaborate practical joke foisted on us by an over-caffeinated designer.
In the Tiemco model, the light wire hook is so springy — and the shank is so long — that my hooking percentage plummets below my already painfully low fraction.
Of course, if you wanted to tie a dozen of something and send them to me, I’d be willing to try the things one more time in the interest of writer-to-writer solidarity…
Try putting a slight offset in the bend on the “natural bend” hooks. This was suggested to me by a shop owner and it has really increased the hooking rates with those hooks. That being said, I’m not replacing my stock of these hooks. Pretty is as pretty does. Once they’re gone, they’re gone.
BTW I’ve been using the Togen hooks for over a year with no complaints.
fishskicanoe
I have to have a little fun with TC … your hook rate sank by half because it’s not a dry fly you were fishing – forced to fish nymphs, and not being able to see the take might have been the cause..
I’m joking… at $7.00 per 100, I am willing to assume a little risk, I’ve never used this “elongated” style hook much, so it was a good reason to score some for testing.
FishSkiCanoe – real field trials outweigh conjecture anytime, the hooks look excellent and it’s reassuring to hear the perform as well as they look.
I would much rather leave 7 cents on a log than 17 cents, and have had a devil of a time getting enough hooks when I do make it by a fly shop.
I think that the “50 Pack” makes shop owners buy the same number of boxes of hooks, yet they only have half the hooks they used to stock. Simple requests like “200 #16 dry fly” has the fellow running around checking under the rug, it used to be easy to find them in that quantity.
Emergers, my nymphs-on-the-brain friend. Emergers.
I like the offset in a scud hook, but my hugely insightful problem with the “natural” bend is an overly springy hook point. Too much shank, too little stiffness.
Fortunately, I’m a benevolent reader, so I won’t chastise you for your errors so far in this post…
I just got spanked handily…and on my home turf to boot.
You’re giving up already? No “stiffness isn’t a problem for most of us” jokes? Scheez.
I’m going to immediately send you some supplements. That’ll fix it.
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