Tying these fuzzballs reminded me of all the notes on competition hooks and their efficacy I’ve been scribbling over the last couple of seasons. I find myself having so many defective hooks of late, and at thirty-five cents a hook I keep trying to make up for poor quality control and fix them with tying thread, simply to get a bit of service before cursing, snapping the thread, and hurling them into my waste can.
Over the last three years, I’ve accumulating a couple thousand Knapeks, Grips, Dohiku, Skalka, and Hanak’s – and the common thread among all of these seems to be how many poorly wired eyes exist in the small dry fly sizes.
I switched over a couple seasons ago because most of these newer manufacturers use the Redditch standard versus the Mustad/Tiemco extra-long shank variant. Much of the early angler commentary I had read mentioned quality control and too-soft wire, but at the time was directed at the Czech nymph styles, which by nature are fast sinking, rock pounding, heavy abuse flies.
While I’ve had no wire issues over the last couple of seasons with nymph, Czech nymph, streamer, and dry fly hooks, big problems exist for nearly all the makers of small dry fly hooks.
Small being size #16 and below, which isn’t all that small …
Knapek has been the most egregious offender, and despite multiple purchases over the last three years, show little change in their quality control. Many of the 25 packs of dry fly hooks #16 or smaller have 8 or 9 hooks with incompletely closed eyes.
… suggesting that for each $6.50 spent on the hooks, $2 or more is wasted.
This is one of the Low Profile Midge prototypes I’ve been fishing last month, using a Knapek #18 dry fly hook. You can actually see the butt end of the incompletely closed eye and how much thread it took to get some use out of the dang hook.
For those interested in trying these hooks I have no issues with the larger sizes and styles in all flavors and models. The larger hooks (#16 and above) have far fewer eye defects, but I would also recommend a visual inspection of the container contents.
Most of these are sold in transparent packages. Take the time to shake the hooks onto the bottom of the container so you can visually inspect the eyes. Purchase those boxes that contain the fewest visible defects.
The fly above is something I’ve been refining for the last couple of months. In Black, I used it as a Trico spinner with mind-numbing success rates on local coarse fish.
Underneath the hackle is a double shellback of moose fibers. When married with a dab of slightly undersized hackle you get a low profile, high floatation, midge-spinner shape.
Note the slim profile of the body, how the dubbed shank is almost the same diameter as the bare hook. This is my Free Range Dry Fly dubbing, natural floatation combined with fibers so fine as to make a fly tyer drop to both knees and weep aloud …
No, you can’t have any … yet.
More on the hooks and their qualities after this season …
Remember that form follows function. When the angling culture is based on heavy nymphs you can’t expect quality hooks for small dry flies. Furthermore, any hook scale is secondary to actual length. Be damned with uniformity.
I have been using the Daichi 1110 big eye,wide gap hooks for my small fly patterns with no complaints.I love the extra large eye. I tie most of my adult midge patterns without hackle and always with a shuck. Basically I tie them spinner style with the wings at a slight angle backwards.
try a drop of epoxy where the join should be.
i have the same problem with some no-name chinese hooks.
just presorted, set on a drying wheel, dabbed and dried.
Oh, you tease, you remind me of my prom date; “look what I have and you can’t touch”, holding out on the Free Range Dry Fly dubbing.
Can’t you spare a brother a dime bag? You know, just this once. I’m good for it, I promise : )
When are you going to make it available to the fly tying public, your fans want to know?
As far as hooks go, I’ve been using the Mustad C49s for years, and am totally sold on it. It’s a scud style straight eye, wide gap, 2x short dry fly hook, and I haven’t found one out of a thousand or so with an open eye. The steel is stronger than the tippet you can fish it with (i break tippet before I straighten these hooks).
I too am interested to know when the Free Range dry fly dubbing is expected to hit the market.
You’re both right, it was a shameless tease. I have about 24 test colors available that I will not reproduce that will allow me to send samples to folks. In that manner you can start fiddling with it and holding me to task …
“Dude, it suxors and ain’t that good”
I’ll make a post annoucing free samples tomorrow.
So you switched from a Mustad…umm…why, again? I use them alot and for $8 per 100 I can toss out a few here and there – and they seem to be pretty fine wire and properly proportioned to me. Of course, then I’m not tying…these things…free range or otherwise….Wouldn’t know where to start. They look like little trouty snacks. I bet they kill ’em don’t they? Hmm…
I agree with Dr. Cane about Mustad C49s; have been tying and fishing with them in a twenty for a while and never had one bend out. Don’t tell Mustad though or they will raise the price. Of course I still tie with 94840s, so maybe I am biased…
Owl,
Simply for the R&D exercise. Giving an opinion shouldn’t be backed up with three flies tied and one fished, rather when I discuss the pro’s and cons I’d like to measure my test in seasons versus the industry standard weekend long expert test.
I tie primarily with Redditch scale hooks which are Mustad’s pre-1970, Partridge, Sealy, and most european hook manufacturers.
The rest of the industry is comprised of Japanese and Korean copies of Mustad hooks – POST 1970, which means they are one size longer than they should be.
While the detail may seem trifling, it’s not to me (WARNING: Personal Opinion Present)