Saltwater hooks

[Bimini15 0]

But I did spend tens of thousands of dollars! I just got five times more tackle for it than the snobs... :D

[Flat Rock native 0]

I am seconding pdeck on this. Have had hooks break or bend out, not often, and not from failing to properly fight the fish.

 

I have caught and released and Released a Rainbow in excess of 20 lbs, on a #18 Olive Quigly Cripple. And, have failed to catch Monster catfish in Nebraska that released on own by straigtening out the large non- salt hooks.

 

Why do I use salt hooks on freshwater patterns? It is a Final Jeopardy winner.....

[Bimini15 0]

I have always used sw hooks for freshwater because I originally got 100 pks of 34007 and 34011 in every other size, and that is all I had. It is only been a couple of years ago that I bought some hooks for freshwater. And those were cheeeep compared to sw hooks today.

 

The only hook I ever straightened was a small thin aberdeen from Eagle Claw on a good size bass. Unintended target, wrong tool for the job.

 

Never had one just break, that I can remember. It is just that I am giving away some flies to a friend who has a good chance to tangle with brutes every time he gets out. Dont want my fly to be the one that fails him.

 

So, it sounds like there are a few of choices up to $20 per 100pk. And lots of choices after that.

[tidewaterfly 0]

I use a lot of brands & styles, and have paid as much as $2 each for some hooks I tie on. It's still not expensive compared to buying other items. Stainless hooks are more costly, but really don't last a lot longer. The older Mustad stainless hooks will outlast most of today's "better" stainless hooks as far as rusting. They bend & aren't sharp out of the pack, but so what? If you want better, you'll pay for it.

 

I use stainless, but also use plated. Like Mike said they fit the purpose & are not as costly. Mustad 3407, VMC 9255, and Eagle Claw 254 hooks are all fine for saltwater use. The 3407 & the 254 need to be sharpened. The VMC 9255 is sharp as it comes. They all will rust.

 

I use some black nickel finished hooks too, and they also will rust. IMO, hooks & the flies are expendable. I don't like it, as I want to get the most use out of them I can, but nothing I can do about it. Salt takes its toll on everything.

[Moshup 0]

It's a beautiful hook and as with beautiful women they are expensive.

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

Yes, I've broken hooks on fish - and so have my anglers... I've quit using the Tiemco 811 because of it (0ne too many times we missed a hookset and inspection revealed the hook had snapped right in front of the bend on the previous fish..). Yes, the super premium hooks have their place (and not just because they don't need sharpening...). The hooks I started with back in the seventies all needed sharpening ( I still use a 4" mill bastard file for that - and buy Nicholson brand by the box - six at a time). I always keep my files at home and bring a ceramic (no rust ever) sharpener with me on the water... Those super premium hooks (I use Tiemco 600sp and Owner Aki...) are used mostly for tarpon flies (and a few other "big fish" patterns) where I'm wanting at least double the strength of ordinary hooks - but my day to day hooks for everything else are still the Mustad 34007 - and I buy them by the 1000 per size, even though I'm no longer a commercial tyer. Funny thing, the 34007 hooks will bend before breaking - the super premium hooks don't bend - they'll actually break before bending....

 

One last note, the old plated Mustad 3407, that always needs sharpening... is not only cheaper than the 34007 - it's actually stronger in use - but it rusts out (you don't get any advantage without giving up something else...) so I rarely use them. I have tied for tournaments in the past where they specified the old 3407 though...

 

P.S. When I'm tying just for myself and my charters - every hook I tie with has the barb mashed down before the hook is ever placed in the vice... That's partly in pure self-defense - but also because a hook with the barb mashed down is a lot easier to actually hook a fish with....

[Flat Rock native 0]

It's a beautiful hook and as with beautiful women they are expensive.

So true MoG, ..... and

 

We are nerds, if we understand....

[agn54 0]

Like others, I use many of the staples for SW tying and probably prefer 34007 for all around use. Certain hooks seem to fit certain stye flies better than others. One hook I really like that no one has mentioned are the Owner Mosquito hooks. Small wire hooks that are surprisingly strong and incredibly sharp. They work great on polar fiber and craft fur minnows, and are not that expensive. The fancy red ones are pretty but I prefer the black ones

[tidewaterfly 0]

Like others, I use many of the staples for SW tying and probably prefer 34007 for all around use. Certain hooks seem to fit certain stye flies better than others. One hook I really like that no one has mentioned are the Owner Mosquito hooks. Small wire hooks that are surprisingly strong and incredibly sharp. They work great on polar fiber and craft fur minnows, and are not that expensive. The fancy red ones are pretty but I prefer the black ones

 

I use those Owner hooks, but not as much as O'Shaughnessy styles for saltwater. They are an excellent choice for bass flies too. As you say some hooks fit specific styles of the flies better than other hooks. I just bought Polar Fibre in a couple of colors to tie some baitfish patterns and will be using those Mosquito hooks for that purpose. I have those hooks in both the red finish & the black and agree I like the black much better. I try to buy them in the bulk packs too, they're not cheap to buy, but the price is better in the bulk packs than it is in the packs with only 5 or 6 hooks,

[Bimini15 0]

I always shy away from mosquito or light hooks for saltwater. I know that they are strong and that the thinner wire penetrates better and all that, but it is a mental thing.

[Saltybum 0]

What Islander said...Eagle Claw Billy Pate hooks. I used up my 100 box of #4 and still working on the #2 & 1/0 boxes.

Very similar in profile to Mustad 3407 and usually pretty sharp right out of the box, but as Capt. Bob does I also keep a stone handy.

 

Since most salty fish are toothy and tend to shred flies ( seaducers, deceivers ) quickly I rarely strip a hook to re-tie unless it's a more pricey hook. Thereby making the economical hooks more practical in that scenario.

Personally I think a lot of hooks are over priced except for the extra strong ones used exclusively for big tarpon around bridges etc. In the open water you can play a fish more w/o the need to put full pressure on your tackle and or the fish to keep them out of structure.

 

Since the weather is currently crap outside ( and will be ) this thread is motivating me to hit the vice shortly.

[Allwaters 0]

Thanks,

Hook prices are getting kind of silly, from what I am seeing.

The U series is actually reasonable at $10.50 for 25pk. on Amazon.

Hey Bims, My go to SW hook is a Mustad 7766D Tarpon, 1X short tinned... decent prices if you can find them. Back in Hawaii I'd just find'em at almost any store and any size... I like the 1X short as it doubles for crabs, shrimp and streamers plus you get a bigger gap per body size. I also employ this type of thinking for my freshwater dry flies for freshwater trout, especially in the tiny sizes like #16 to #22's.

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

I've long used those old 7766 hooks from Mustad - particularly for small tarpon (under 50lbs...). Used to be that hook style was long out of favor and you only found them in old shops that had an inventory that had a lot of dust on it... They were quite cheap and just strong enough to work with tarpon (after you sharpened them and flattened the barb... Those old stocks are long gone - what's available today are the modern version as noted by the last poster (with a very slightly different profile - but still great... My only problem with them is the price they're commanding - but that's just an old fart's grump... Here's a pic or two of the Night Fly - my go to night scene tarpon fly around bridges and docklights in Biscayne Bay...

[LivelyOne 0]

If you have your leader constructed so its even possible to break or bend a hook, you are risking your whole flyline.. Fly guys who fish salmon and steelhead in rivers here (New York tributaries) commonly put a 'weak link' in the leader close to the hook. So if you have a snag (rock, log or fish), or get a screamer that runs 100+ yards down where you can't follow, you can tighten up and break it off near/at the hook, thus saving your fly line/backing and most of your leader. The weak link can be just tapering down to 8 lb test tippet, but is often made more defined by using a smaller swivel or tippet ring to tie the last bit of tippet to the hook. Then 90% of the time you will break there and not higher up.

 

The only time I've broken or bent hooks with this setup was on three identical beadhead nymphs purchased from a flyshop. They all broke one after another.. and were obviously tied on inferior hooks. I stopped buying flies after that.