Hook Selection

djmyers

djmyers

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Joined
May 16, 2007
Messages
288
How do you decide which hook to use for which pattern? When I go online and look up a specific pattern, I think they each use a different hook. Is there a rule of thumb for selecting a hook to tie onto?

Ex. I am looking at Pheasant Tail patterns. Some say to use a 1x (tiemco 3769) length and some say to use a 2x (tiemco 5262)length and some say to use tiemco 2457 or 2487 scud type hook.

I guess everyone has an opinion on what to use.

Which hooks do you use for:

nymphs

streamers

dry fly


What sizes do you have in each type?
 
Nymphs and streamers I think depends on rather you want a short or long body. I'll do that on Black Ghost, instead of using a Mustard 79580 size 8 that the book calls for, I'll replace it with a Mustard 9672 size 8. The 9672 gives me the same size but a slightly shorter body.
 
Honestly unless you have a certain style you are looking for one certain fly I'd stick with one type of hook for almost all your nymphs, streamers, and dry flies. I use Mustand 3399A I believe for almost 90% of my nymphs so I know the sizes are consistant. If I go to a different style sometimes the size 14 are the same as a 12 or vice versa. Pick whatever style you like for your nymphs, for your dry flies, and for your streamers, and try to stay with that for all your flies unless you have a specific pattern you want to try with maybe a longer body or a shorter body.
 
I usually just get a standard gap/shank down eye hook... whatever's on sale. Fine wire for dries, heavier for nymphs. I also have tons of curved caddis hooks in fine wire for all of my caddis needs, since they are the bread and butter on the tully. I essentially tie a walt's worm-esque pattern in various colors with a turn of herl at the head. I'll add a full cdc wing for a dry (minus the herl), a half cdc wing for emergers, and no wing for larva. I used to get heavy caddis/scud hooks for globugs, nymphs, san juans, and scuds, but usually just tie them on finer hooks with a few turns of lead to save money.

Simple works for me.
 
The hooks are suggested hooks for each pattern, if you have some kind cross reference you could substitute the tiempco equivilent for any mustad hook for instance. The idea is that the originator or person giving the recipe is suggesting the hook he or she uses.
 
I agree with bigjohn, JayL, and Chaz that what the pattern says is just a suggestion, and you can normally use whatever you have that is the same basic style of hook. For instance, get a supply of Mustad, Tiemco, or whatever brand you want, and get a stock of hooks that are made for dry flys, a stock for nymphs, and a supply for streamers, and you'll also probably want some "curved" caddis/scud hooks too.

Here's a table that compares Mustad, Tiemco, and Daichi, just for curiosity sake: Hook Comparison Table. But I wouldn't worry too much about getting exact matches (or the equivalents) that are suggested by the pattern if you don't have them on hand.
 
I guess that is where I was getting confused. When I would google a search for a certain pattern and see what different people have tied, half the patterns used different hooks for the same fly, especially in nymphs. I guess I didn't know if there was some rule of thumb for selecting a hook to tie onto or if you just tie some and see which catches more fish for a certain pattern.
 
One of the most important things is that the imitation you're using is close to the same size as the real bugs on the water, if you're matching the hatch. If you're just prospecting or using attractors it's just a matter of what the fish prefers at the time. So you just need to take a fly from your fly box that's the right size, no matter what the hook is. Now, if you are going by hatch charts or stream reports to determine what size fly to have on hand, you want to be sure that the hook is the same size as what is called for. In this case, if you are using 1X or 2X short or long, the hook will be a somewhat different length than the hook # size. The simplest thing is just to use standard length hooks most of the time. There may be special situations that call for the other lengths. Like some people like to use "short" hooks for small flys because the hook gap is wider for a fly of shorter equivalent length.

My normal hooks are Mustad 94840 for dries, Mustad 3908 for nymphs/wets, and Mustad 79580 for streamers, plus various scud/caddis hooks that just were convenient where I was buying at the time. I guess I use Mustad because they are less expensive. I've just always used them.
 
I agree with wulff-man (and others) best to stuck to a standard hook unless you have a specific purpose. It's especially good advice to try and imitate the size of a fly if you're after a specific insect imitation. Other than that (prospecting) I pretty much stick to a standard size unless I run out and then sort of eyeball it with what I have around.
Coughlin
 
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