Whatfly,

What I posted was that I'd heard the hooks were made on old machines sold to a Chinese manufacturer by Tiemco when they upgraded their hook plant in Japan.

I can't confirm this, but I tend to believe it because the shape and size matches the Tiemco shapes and sizes almost exactly. I know it's not the same wire (Which is fine with me, I don't like Tiemco hooks) nor is the same QC excercised, which is something to be expected at 1/3 the price.

And yes, the Togen hooks are cheap hooks. At around seven cents per hook compared with around a quarter per hook, that certainly qualifies as cheap, or at least cheaper. Which is kind of the point here. I'm fine with cheap. They aren't as cheap as the old style Mustads, which I used to get for $3.50/100. You can still get some Mustads for around $4/100, 3191s, 3366s, which I use a lot of. But compared to Gamagatsu,Tiemco, or Daiichi, they are certainly cheap.

We've been machine manufacturing fish hooks for well over a century. Seems like the process ought to be pretty well perfected by now. It's just a fish hook, so how 'good' does it have to be?

As another aside, I see that the bass guys are being offered a new premium hook. They run about $2 each. Trokar or something like that is the brand name..... $2 per hook. And they are going to stick it into a plastic worm and pitch it into a brush pile. Now I can understand the 50# braided line.....don't want to lose THAT hook.

Buddy