Hooks

[DarrellP 0]

Anyone have a favorite brand?  If so, why? I have not seen a big difference between brands, other than Tiemco.  They seem much sharper and stronger than other brands, but expensive.  I like Firehole for streamer hooks.  I have been happy with J Stockard house brand and Green Caddis Outfitters, as well as Mustad. Chime in.

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

Hooks are like nails - lots of variations - mostly because of intended usage.. For basic saltwater tying it's hard to beat Mustad 34007 (or the 34011 for a longer shanked hook), but Iv'e been around long enough to also be using the Mustad 7766, the 3407, and the 34077SS at times for specific purposes.  Starting almost forty years ago super premium hooks began to be imported from Japan and other places -they were quickly accepted by folks tying for big tarpon, tuna, and other exceedingly strong fish.  These come out of the box almost sharper than you can achieve with a file and some elbow grease... The first super premium hooks (my description) were probably from Tiemco -but that's just a guess on my part.  Then came  Owner, Gamakatsu,  Daiichi, Varivas, and a flood of others.  These days we've long quit using the Tiemco 800S hooks that were so popular in the eighties (all of my tarpon flies back then were done up on them)... The problem?  along with being extra strong and very very sharp they were brittle and when folks started breaking them on the hookset - that was the end for that model in the larger sizes.  Tiemco finally came up with the 600sp model and got back some of the market share they'd lost with the 800S hook troubles, but they never regained their early popularity with the saltwater crowd.  For at least 30 years now all of my patterns needing super strong, very sharp hooks have been done with the Owner Aki hook (Aki is japanese for yellowfin tuna, I'm told.. ).  

 

In the salt we're mostly concerned with size, and strength of hooks.  On the freshwater side there's many, many more variations that I can see.   

[flytire 0]

gamakatsu for salmon and steelhead flies

mustad signature and heritage for everything else

i prefer to buy from jstockard when they have their hook sale

[Poopdeck 0]

No preference. Usually whatever is in stock at my local shops that will work for me. I won’t buy house branded hooks anymore and I’m way to frugal to pay for expensive hooks. Most of my hooks are mustad and TMC.

[SBPatt 0]

Wholesale Fly Company. $7.00 for 100 hooks, free shipping on orders over $25; quality as good as my former favorite, Dai Riki, and a decent variety of styles. No salmon hooks and I haven’t used their saltwater but since I tie mostly trout flies, it’s not an issue for me.

Regards,
Scott

[niveker 0]

Like Mr. Deck, I have no preference, but stay away from the expensive brands.

While I don't deny that there are crappy hooks out there, I've never bought into that 'lose the fish of a lifetime cuz you I didn't buy the most expensive brand' marketing baloney.  

I like the Green Caddis Outfitters hooks, unfortunately he is often low on stock lately,  Wholesale Fly Company, Sierra brand hooks I buy from a place on eBay, my local fly shop  has decent house hooks for a good price, I come across older hooks often in the local marketplaces (Craigslist, yard sales, etc.) that I scoop up whenever I can.  

[SBPatt 0]

27 minutes ago, niveker said:

While I don't deny that there are crappy hooks out there, I've never bought into that 'lose the fish of a lifetime cuz you I didn't buy the most expensive brand' marketing baloney.  

Lost a few sizable rainbows (and smaller ones, too) on the Missouri when my #14 Tiemco 200s straightened out; for that specific hook, in smaller sizes, I go by the old General Dynamics motto - “you can get better quality, but you won’t pay more”.

Regards,
Scott

[upnorthtier 0]

tiemco for me, i find them sharper and more durable than most other brands. They are one of the most expensive out there so I've been using mostly maruto hooks for the past 5 years, they are made in the same house as the tiemco and for half the money, i don't see a difference in quality between the two. I get all my hooks from Daryl --- troutbum.ca, great guy to deal with. The hooks model c,m,i,etc## are maruto, i got some of the kona hooks from him also and i like them, they are black nickel. 

 

[Philly 0]

I use a lot of different hooks TMC, Gamakatsu, Daiichi, Partridge, Eagle Claw, VMC, Ahrex, Owner and one Mustad hook.

For trout flies, when I tie them these days, I use TMC, Partridge and I still have a couple of packs of Orvis hooks

Warm water, Gamakatsu, Eagle Claw Aberdeen hook, Ahrex, the Daiichi 2461 and the Mustad 3777B

Salt Water, which I don't tie many these days, TMC and Varivas.   

[Sandan 0]

Tiemco, Umpqua "U" series, fulling mill, firehole, Gama, ahrex, Alex Johnson mustad. All good. 

[cphubert 0]

Most of my stock is Mustad then whatever I find at a bargain. I find a lot of hooks at shows from the vintage/ estate dealers then backfill needed hooks when I find them on sale or reasonably priced. 

[Jaydub 0]

Tiemco and Daiichi are my go-to hooks, but I like certain Fulling Mill, Gamakatsu, Hanak, Partridge...

[WWKimba 0]

I'm mostly Mustad though I have bought some TMC, Green Caddis, and JStockard house hooks when I had the need, and they were on sale.  I recently had to buy a box of Sprite hooks due to the uniqueness of the size hook needed - 1 XL dry fly for a swap.  But about 90+% are Mustad's.  I guess I'm old school!

Kim

[redietz 0]

Mustads for almost everything. I at least know what I'm getting.

[Guest]

I try to use what’s available in sporting goods stores but that’s tough.  Made an order on Mustad Duratin coated rather than SS.  3407DT awhile back.  Use them for the bigger stuff.  3/0 to 4s  

just recieved a FlyShack order to try some $7/100 Saber. Gonna see how they work out.  Been wanting to try some stuff with Rhea or Raptor feathers.  Had to settle on the BirdFur to try.