bending hooks without breaking them

In a recent issue of Fly-fishing and Fly-tying there was an article on the "Waterwisp" type upside down fly and how to tye it. The Author, Giulano Masetti, mentioned that a hook developed by Partridge for tying this fly had been discontinued. (It had a straight eye which was vertical. He said that "Grub hooks with the eye turned 90 degrees make a good substitute". Although I have bent hooks slightly when I tie Klinkhamer flies, I haven't had any success "bending the eye 90 degrees without breaking the hook". Any ideas on how to do this??
Thanks,
SweetStreamS

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Originally Posted by SweetStreamS

In a recent issue of Fly-fishing and Fly-tying there was an article on the "Waterwisp" type upside down fly and how to tye it. The Author, Giulano Masetti, mentioned that a hook developed by Partridge for tying this fly had been discontinued. (It had a straight eye which was vertical. He said that "Grub hooks with the eye turned 90 degrees make a good substitute". Although I have bent hooks slightly when I tie Klinkhamer flies, I haven't had any success "bending the eye 90 degrees without breaking the hook". Any ideas on how to do this??
Thanks,
SweetStreamS

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Buy cheaper hooks if you want to bend them. I tie a lot of jigs and have found that Eagle Claw 570 hooks are the most bendable. They are also the cheapest - and already have a 90 degree bend.
http://staminainc.com/hooks/eagleclaw/ec570hook.html
High carbon hooks like VMC do not bend easily, and will break at a little less than 90 degrees.
Not sure how small you want to go, but the "light wire" aberdeen goes down to size 10.
http://staminainc.com/hooks/eagleclaw/ec202_214.html

Thanks Greenfish. I'll give that a try.

SweetStreams;
A pair of round nose pliers will help with the bend. The sharp edge of needle nose pliers will cause the hook to break.

order waterwisp hooks online??

http://www.waterwisp.com/newhooks.htm

Normand.,
Aha!!! The author of the article apparently didn't know about the Daiichi hooks.
Thanks!
SweetStreamS