SilverDoctor

A couple of dozen for me. Especially when nymphing, if you're not loosing flies you're not fishing.

The chart I have is only Daiichi, Avalon, Mustad, Orvis, Eagle Claw, Partridge and Tiemco. its' here

Tried silk and wasn't thrilled by the turnover, could be just my style. adding some nylon to uni stiffens it a bit which is kind of nice. Lots of kool stuff to experiment with.

I tie shank to eye. I fish single double and triple rigs depending on the tiem of year and size of prey. Sometimes a larger chasing smaller Sometimes school fry. Lots of combos. I never put split shot between, good way to get a tangle. I prefer a sink tip or weighted streamer.

Unfortunately there are a few specialty hooks being phased out or already gone. Some of my favorite salmon blind eye display hooks have already disappeared. Along with a few of my fav wet fly series. Back to rejigging and reshapping display hooks I guess.

Certainly the price of hooks has climbed. I do tie quite a bit and hooks arn't cheap. I have noticed that some manufactures hook quality seems to suffer. I have always been curious about a variety of manufactures, always looking at quality verses price. My brother in law in BC sent me some samples of some very attractively priced hooks. He bought packages of dry and wet and sent me a few samples. The quality was disappointing. I tied a couple of dries and one hook actually snapped in the vice as I tied. I decided to take small pliers to them and found them to be terribly brittle snapping at the upper bend quite easily but not consistently. Tested out the wet fly hooks and actually found the reverse. They don't seem to have proper tempering. It was not hard to pull the bend out. More than I would trust in my brand of fishing. A few in the packages where miss shaped, that is, not quite the right shape by about a sixteenth.. Not sure If i just got a bad batch but it didn't look good. Basically the hooks looked good but there are tempering problems. They are not overly sharp. These hooks would be great if you where running fly tying classes and needed a bulk buy but they are not to my particular taste. Generally a number of different companies product has not overly impressed me. There are a number of others that are great quality including some great truly great UK producers who I purchase display quality hooks from.In other posts i have mentioned manufactures that I respect. Now you have noticed that I have intentionally not mentioned company names. I don't intend to. I would also ask other posters to kindly respect my thread and do the same please. I dont' want to dice any manufacturer as what I don't care for may be just the ticket for another tier. I just want to open a discussion about hooks and their quality. In the past I have bought other brands that I have thrown away because of temper problems. Do you feel the quality of some products out there suffer as I do? Do you like to tie on a quality product and are willing to pay for it. Or do you like to buy a more modestly priced product.

No problems with length, I'm with Max. as I like a bit of action. i find strikes are usually at the front or mid area. I have a certain brown's strike burned in my mind forever. I drifted a bugger past a big submerged rock and he rolled on it smacking it along the hook shank to "kill" the bugger then turned to finish it off and I had him. Funny how certain fish affect you.

Welcome to the board. look forward to reading your posts.

Also add moisture to your knots before tightening. Keeps the area from heating up and stressing. I have never had a knotted leader fail at a knot in 54 years so I'll keep using em.

Most of mine are from uni, nice an supple takes the better part of a spool. Have a few I really like that I made from Clarks sewing thread (mono). My leaders are only 5" right now as that's my jig. Should really do up another one for next winter. I usually make up enough for a few years worth of fun, I like to include a set shorbed loops for ease of change up to the sacrificial leader. That long jig You're making sounds cool, mine is many years old, just a two by fores and dowels. Need to make a folding one some day.

I would have to second that for the Pfluger president, super reel for the price. Well manufactured, I have two. I still use my Dad's Pfluger Medalist from the 30's so it tells a lot about quality. You might also check out the trading post, Max has a bauer mx4 on there. Jahad also had some nice reels there. You could also pick up a Hardy Cascapedia's with the British pound down and a 40% off right now on the Harris Site it's a good bet also if ou like click prawls.

I depends what type of leader material you use. I like stiff for the butt and softer toward the tip depending on the type of fishing. I always build my own. If you build your own you can experiment with different combination of materials. Small loop to loop on the end so you don't have to sacrifice you leader, then just add your sacrificial end. I like furled leaders for dry fly work. Add a bit of floatant and they sit nicely on the surface.

Here you go. Hardy's Favorite Hook: Mustad 3399 #8-12 Thread: Black Tail: Golden Pheasant Tippets Rib: Red Floss Body: Bright Peacock Herl Hackle: Brown Wing: Mottled Turkey Quill

Here, you go. albertabowriver.com rotarytechniques.html

Truly great find.

This is an old favorite wet fly of mine that i've tied since the early 60's . Hardy's Favorite.

Are you finding good primary feathers for wing materials? Nice stuff is not always available. Ran across some full mallard wings and bought them all.

I'm of the same mind. I'm disappointed with the treatment of Alberta fishers as I grew up in that province and still support it through property taxes and a number of other things business endeavors like gallery sales. But the important thing is the fishery. I did write my letters.

Good time to buy products from the UK with the euro down right now. I imagine it will bump up soon. Contemplating a Hardy reel.

It's from http://forum.flybc.ca/.

Please don't go Gordon, how about some input about your favorite rods, styles experience. I fish a middle of the road rod a Deer Creek. Hasn't stopped me form having a lot of fun with a great rod. Lots of companies making great gear now. Work on those great styles you taught me and catch the odd wee fishie in the process. if you do decide not to post I just want to say thank you for your insight into teh world of Spey. If you do write again I will always look forward to your great posts.

As long as it functions who cares. Looks like it would work. In the end it's not the vice, it's the tyer.

Thanks for posting this Don.

I have a couple of tools that I bought over the years that gather dust somewhere. Never find em when I need them adn one more thing to carry. I just tie my knots by hand.

The Islander IR is definitely an instant classic. Love my IR4. It talks to me like my Hardy's. The war department tells me I would have to liquidate something to get another Hardy. Well, have to look through my goodies.