off brand hooks

[imx 0]

i'm not thrilled about paying the money for alot of the hooks i've been using, for instance last night i bought some tiemco 2499SPBL and they were $10 for 25..

 

i've been looking at the jr stockard hooks and also the flyshops hooks because they have the large range of styles and sizes i like and the price is better.

 

anyways are they a waste of money and should i keep biting the bullet on the higher priced tiemcos and diachiis. or are they a decent hook?

 

 

regards,

imx

[AZWoolybugger 0]

The owner of a fly shop I deal with was complaining about his cost of a box of TMC hooks had gone up to $3 and he was selling the same box to me for $20. I started using other brands after that with little issues. ( an occasional bad hook in the box of cheaper hooks )

[flytire 0]

why not support the owner of this website and buy his green caddis outfitters hooks. Granted he doesn't carry every style of hook but if more people bought more of his hooks then will might consider getting more styles in.

 

The green caddis hooks are just as good as most of the other generic hooks being sold as in house brands from different fly shops and online merchants.

[tidewaterfly 0]

Opinions will always vary about hooks. IMO, it depends on how you define quality. Personally, I've never tied on a hook of any brand, that I could not use for fishing. Regardless of the make, all of them, due to the volumes they produce, may have some quality control issues, so it's always possible to get a bad batch. My experience so far with those "off brand" hooks sold by folks like Allen's, JStockard & Green Caddis Outfitters, has been very good, so to answer your question, no, for me they've not been a waste of money.

 

However, as I said, opinions will vary, so the only way to determine if they're worth buying & using is to try some of them, and compare to similar & higher priced hooks you've used and liked.

[fishingbobnelson 0]

I have been very happy with the J.Stockard hooks, also the Umpqua branded hooks come in 50 packs for about the same price as 25 TMC hooks.

[kimjensen 0]

I think in order to understand what a quality hook is, is to search for materials regarding what makes a good hook. I go for Gamakatsu, Partridge and Kamasan (Kamasan i don't really know if it's a high quality brand?). Never had a problem with those hooks. I havn't checked what they are made of, but will i buy the cheapest hooks i can find and loose a fish because of it? NO! Quality and price goes hand in hand. But search for what makes a good hook.

[Old Hat 0]

For the most part I think many if the generic hooks are fine. I have found some more expensive brands which I don't like at all as well as some generic. Realistically, most tiers tie way more flies than they will ever need. This means a lot of money sitting in boxes or on the shelf in the form hooks. over the years I have learned to scale down my boxes. A product of refining my tying and organization. There are some hooks that I really enjoy to tie on and for specific purposes are great. However they are expensive. But I wouldn't replace them. There are other patterns that inexpensive name brands do just fine. I guess what I'm I am really saying is find the specific hooks that fit you tying needs and you enjoy tying on. It will probably be a combination of name brands and generic. There aren't too many that are all around bad or good. They have got to catch you fish and satisfy your creativity.

 

Note: generally speaking I do believe that tiemco is overpriced but there are a couple of styles that I personally like a lot that I can't find anything to replace them

[Ugly Bob 0]

why not support the owner of this website and buy his green caddis outfitters hooks. Granted he doesn't carry every style of hook but if more people bought more of his hooks then will might consider getting more styles in. The green caddis hooks are just as good as most of the other generic hooks being sold as in house brands from different fly shops and online merchants.

I agree completely, I have yet to experience any issues with their hooks.

[DUBBN 0]

why not support the owner of this website and buy his green caddis outfitters hooks. Granted he doesn't carry every style of hook but if more people bought more of his hooks then will might consider getting more styles in. The green caddis hooks are just as good as most of the other generic hooks being sold as in house brands from different fly shops and online merchants.

I don't know the owner of this site. I do know the owners of the fly shops I frequent. Think I will give them my business.

[switch10 0]

Try:

 

www.greencaddis.com

 

and

 

www.allenflyfishing.com

 

For quality hooks at a great price. I use hooks from both.

 

You will not find a replacement for the 2499SPBL's though... Those are some awesome hooks.

[Bryon Anderson 0]

I have bought Eagle Claw fly tying hooks from Cabelas for years. I have never had a problem with them, and they still beat the nearest competition on price by quite a ways at around $8.00 per hundred. Prior to discovering the Eagle Claws I always bought Mustad, which was then the cheapest of the well-established brands. The few times I have bought Tiemco they have been fine but I saw nothing in them to justify them costing twice the price of Eagle Claw or Mustad. I did, on one occaion, buy some truly "generic" hooks in buik off of eBay, and that was not a great experience - there were many hooks that were defective, and not a few had the eyes already broken off the shanks when I got them. For my next batch of hooks, I will go with the Green Caddis to support this site; if they work out, I will stick with them.

[Guest]

Hey guys, I appreciate all of the recommendations for the GCO hooks. Every little bit of positive feedback and every recommendation truly does help. I just got a massive shipment in of over 4,000 packs of hooks so I am restocked on all of my popular sizes/styles and have a few more new styles to add to the site soon. Thanks again, it really means a lot to me! Will.

[JSzymczyk 0]

I have used a lot of the JStockard hooks and they are outstanding, for any price.

 

It has been several years now since the fly fishing industry has tried to brainwash us all into thinking that hooks must be expensive to be "good" hooks. Hundreds of millions of fish had been caught on good old Mustads and Eagle Claws before the first Jewelry Store Boutique Fashion fly hooks came on the scene. Even what you call today's "Off Brand" hooks are in some ways superior to yesterday's accepted standards of fly hooks: strength, sharpness, ability to hold a sharp point, etc. That said, some of my favorite fly hooks are Mustad "classic" hooks which are no longer made. I wish I could still buy them like I used to. I have several boxes of old Partridge, Allcock, and other English fly hooks which were the pinnacle of fly hook technology in their day, and I think today's new generation of fly tyers would look at them and laugh. It's too bad because there is nothing functionally wrong with them at all. It's just image and marketing. You can get extremely good hooks for not too much money.

 

For those Tiemco 2499s, $10+ for 25 scud/pupa/egg hooks? No way in hell. There is nothing which could justify that cost compared to other hooks. Tell me one single thing that hook could do that a Stockard 710, Mustad C49S, or GCO 2488 could NOT do. Someone is undoubtably going to chime in that they are "only 40 cents per hook, how could anyone complain about that when your are using a $200 fly rod, blah blah blaaaah". Well in the real world we all have to count our pennies somewhere.

 

I have not yet ordered any of Will's GCO hooks but I plan to before long if I have some spare $$. I would do so in full confidence, because I don't think he would put his name behind something which was "a waste of money" as you say. It's a real person doing the work bringing them to the market not a faceless company.

[JSzymczyk 0]

why not support the owner of this website and buy his green caddis outfitters hooks. Granted he doesn't carry every style of hook but if more people bought more of his hooks then will might consider getting more styles in. The green caddis hooks are just as good as most of the other generic hooks being sold as in house brands from different fly shops and online merchants.

I don't know the owner of this site. I do know the owners of the fly shops I frequent. Think I will give them my business.

 

Well why don't you get to know him then? I also don't personally know Will, but he makes this site available to all of us for FREE and I think that is worth a little bit of support. I think your comment is arrogant and dismissive, but it's hard to tell sometimes, just reading the words.

[lykos33 0]

I have to agree with Joel, name brands ain't that important. A lot of my Atlantic Canada tying friends will only go for the name brand salmon hooks....not I. I compared the bendability and sharpness of some hooks the guys sent me to try out to some I got on ebay and I can honestly see no difference....other than price. If you feel that the name brands are better and they instill more confidence in your fishing abilities than go for it. I do buy from Stockard and have bought from Allen, and I will get some GCO hooks eventually....all a matter of time and $$$$

Murray