HOOKS - Hooks - hooks

The myth of one brand is best.......

How many people do you know that are passionate about the hooks their flies are tied on. I often find myself when having discussions with fly fishers about flies, it centers around the brands of hooks they use. The outcome of why most fly fishers are sold on a particular brand is because they have had proven positive experience with the pointy end of when landing that trophy fish. But when put into reality, most of it comes down to the small selection of hooks they have been exposed to over the years, and the experiences they have had with them. When we have a good experience that’s when we find our “Go To” hook. Not to say that another brand will not preform just as well put in the very same situation. As a fly fisher, we all know you can just have a bad day, tying trace after trace when trying to push those casts into the tight locations around the Tutu bush hanging in the foam line! You hook into the bush, you get frustrated knowing you have only just tied that trace 1 cast ago, you give the rod a few solid flicks and your flies pop off, but “oh no" the hook has opened. This is one of them bad experience that can put a different brand hook in the trash pile. This scenario of the hook opening is normally caused by the following things.

1- When trying to free the snag take note of what you hand does, it holds the line tight against the grip not letting it run from the reel. EG not drag. So, there is no give whatsoever. The weakest link is going to give, whether it be the fly the trace or the knots in between.

2- When the fly is snagged often you will notice it is typically only the very point of the hook caught, with this scenario it significantly adds to the leverage on the hook, again when using force on the line and rod to free the flies this leverage will lead to that hook opening.

3- Poor hook design and or quality, which you will typically find on unbranded mass-produced imported hooks that have no association to a reputable brand. A reputable hook company will put a lot of effort into managing their quality control and ensuring they meet their customer’s needs.

When taking a step back to a time when a fish is netted, think about how the hooks are located when removing them from the fish, more often than not the hook has sunk into the upper jaw of the fish deep into the bite up to the bend. With the hook taking the load deep in the bite it aids to the strength of that hook due to the straight pulling forces. This is where the design of the hook has a huge impact on how well they connect to the fish and strength they achieve when in fight mode.

Dirty Flys uses a fine balance of hooks based on design, strength, and gauge. Don’t get fooled that just because the gauge of the hook is big its strong. Many heavy gauge hooks are made from soft material, so looks can be deceiving. We don’t build our flies on the biggest and strongest hooks as we design them to suit the situation the fly will be presented in. It’s pointless using a heavy gauge hook on a #18 midge when trying to present it in crystal clear still water. Presentation is key, and when fished in with an appropriate sized leader and drags, Dirty Fly hooks will not open on a fish.

Have I seen a Dirty Fly hook open? Yeah, for sure. It’s certainly not when playing a fish, it’s normally on them “Bad” days when we probably should have just stayed home as the flies have hooked into thing that shouldn’t be hooked into. And if it was another brand fly, I could guaranty it would have a similar outcome. Will I ever see a Dirty Fly open on a fish? Yeah, there is a good chance this could happen, but it would be very far and few in between. We hugely rely on the hook quality from our suppliers, and everyone knows that at times there are manufacture faults. At Dirty Flys we do our very best to quality control to make sure you are supplied quality products.

The most asked question we get asked “What brand hooks do you use”. Now this a very open-ended question for the fact that not one hook is suitable for every situation. There is certainly some difference in quality when comparing brand to brand, but what I find is that not one brand is the best for every situation. That why we do use a couple of different brands, these been mainly Tiemco and Daiichi hooks which we see consistent performance from. Some fly fishers are fixated that there is only on brand of hook to use, and that’s fine. Everyone has their own opinion. Plus, there is the situation where you might have a few extra $ to spend on toys, so why not use the most expensive equipment. Just don’t be fooled that just because its expensive, it may not be of that high of quality. Many have been led down that worm hole in the past. How often have you seen people shelling out thousands of $, only to be disappointed with the quality and performance of the overpriced products. This is how the concept of Dirty Flys evolved “supplying a product that is high performing in the field at a fraction of the cost of the competitors”. We know we don’t always get it right, but we listen to what you fly fishing people say and are constantly learning, developing, and expanding our every growing range.

Happy fishing out their team. I hope you are spending plenty of time on the water now the rivers have opened. Remember, jobs can always be done tomorrow…..

Nick

Dirty Flys New Zealand.