Fun For Some - Scary For Others

[Bryon Anderson 0]

On 1/5/2024 at 6:41 PM, gadabout said:

The hook situation is a mess.  When I started out, Mustad was more or less the only game in town, and everyone knew all the model numbers by heart.  In principle, hook prices should be lower due to all the competition.  That is certainly not the case.  I don’t need chemically sharpened hooks.  Diamond hone sharpened hooks do just fine.

I'm glad that this was the case when I was brand-new to the game. I can't imagine being a newbie trying to sort out the whole alternate universe of hooks available now. I mean...🤯

That being said, I do appreciate the great variety of sizes, shapes, etc. available to me now that I know what I'm doing. I have always been terrible about sharpening my hooks, too, so I am happy to have hooks that are scary sharp right out of the box now. 

What I would tell a someone just getting into tying in 2024 would be that, while there are a lot of different hooks out there, there's also a great deal of repetition and countless variations on a few simple themes (kind of like with fly lines -- remember Cortland 444 peach? All you had to know was DT or WF and the line weight!) Find a pattern you want to tie, find a reasonable approximation of the hook listed in the recipe and use that as a starting point. 

Good problems to have.

[Facemelted 0]

On 1/5/2024 at 6:20 PM, flytire said:

i didnt blame jstockard

i blame fulling mill for their lack of telling tyers that their bucktails are on the small/tiny side

Interesting, I bought 2 Fulling Mill bucktails from a store nearby and thought they were quite nice. Yea a little pricey but, the amount of hair on the tails was amazing. I'll probably get dozens and dozens of clousers and deceivers out of these. I bought a white and a fl.chartreuse. I'll agree that they're definitely not like bucktails were say... 10 15 years ago but, I know things change with supply from time to time. 

 

Edited February 6 by mikechell
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