Saltwater Hooks Vs Freshwater Hooks

[Xplorer]

Hi Guys,

 

I have been fishing alot of streamers lately and started tying my own. I am having some problems hooking fish on my own flies. I will feel the strike, set the hook(sometimes a strip set) and then the fish shakes his head a couple of times and is gone. It has happend many many times and has me thinking it is not coincidence. I added stinger hooks to my flies and started catching more fish, but sometimes the smaller streamer(no stinger) seems to work better.

 

So I checked the hooks I have been tying on to find out that they are for saltwater. Would this make any difference? I have also upped my leader to 2.5' of Maxima 20lb and 2.5' of maxima 10lb with no real change in performance. It does not feel like the leader is stretching too much on the hook set, like it did before. The fish that I have caught on my streamers(without stingers), the hook falls out as soon as the fish is in the net or tension is released. I even had a rainbow miss and get foul hooked and the hook barely penetrated his skin, maybe a 1/4" or so. The fish I have caught with the stinger hooks, they are usually in the corner of there mouth or in the jaw and are tough to get out.

 

I am going to buy some different streamer hooks but was wondering if this is part of my problem?

 

Thanks

 

Lance

 

[Flytyer]

You are too vague in the description, how long is the wing/tail, what hooks are you tying on etc? This extra info will help in figuring out what the problem could be.

[Xplorer]

Sorry,

 

The hooks are Mustad 3407DT size 4, the tail of my streamers vary from 1/2" to 3". I thought that adding stingers to the flies with longer tails would help and it did, but the shorter tailed flies(any flies without stingers) still do not seem to stick(penetrate?). I was wondering if a straight eye(my hooks) vs a down turned eye is making a difference?

 

Thanks again

 

Lance

 

[Flytyer]

Sorry,

 

The hooks are Mustad 3407DT size 4, the tail of my streamers vary from 1/2" to 3". I thought that adding stingers to the flies with longer tails would help and it did, but the shorter tailed flies(any flies without stingers) still do not seem to stick(penetrate?). I was wondering if a straight eye(my hooks) vs a down turned eye is making a difference?

 

Thanks again

 

Lance

 

Definately salt water hooks you got there, I'm guessing that you would need to set the hook much harder than normal has this is a fairly heavy hook. I would suggest trying Mustad 9671 or 9672, to start with based on the length of flies you say you are tying. The hooks you have would be ok for pike flies if you are into that sort of thing or salt water salmon, which I tie on occasion. Hope this helps

 

[ironfly]

Most of the saltwater hooks I've tried, including Mustad, were pretty dull out of the package. Do those ones stick to your fingernail?

[rhuseby]

I'm almost 100% certain you need to sharpen your hooks. Do them in the vise before you tie the fly, and carry a sharpener on the stream to keep them sharp. If they don't dig into your thumbnail on the slightest pressure they're no good. If I miss 2 fish in a row, I always check the hook, and many times it's dulled slightly. Touch it up and away you go.