Up Eye Dry Fly Hooks

[AlanB]

Given that everything else is the same the turned up eye will make no difference to how the fly floats. What no one seams to have mentioned is that the turned up eye was to accommodate a turle knot, where the cast is tied around the hook shank.
Cheers,
A.

[Silver Creek]

Good thought on the turle knot. Also kudos for not calling it the turtle knot. I wonder if tying the knot in reverse on a down eye hook would also work. I would think so but have never tried it.

http://shoreangling4u.tripod.com/knotguide/id24.html

I like the down eye hook for fly tying. I tie a lot of parachute flies and the down eye gets the eye out of the way of the parachute hackle fibers. It also allows me to use the bobbin cradle on my Renzetti without the thread unwinding when I spin the hook. A straight eye allows the thread to slip more easily over the eye as the hook spins.

I also think a straight eye allows for more crowding of the eye of the hook when beginners tie flies. The hook eye angle seems to help keep thread clear of the eye, and the angle reminds the beginning tier to keep the area free for the tie off.

[johnstoeckel]

Years ago I read somewhere that up eye hooks were good for spinner, no hackle or parachute dry flies where the fly body was intended to be in the film. The idea was that the eye of an up eye hook would not penetrate the film (like a down eye hook would) and would thus provide a more natural fly body impression in the film. I can't say that I have any evidence to support this position and frankly, I don't bother with up eye hooks any longer.

[Silver Creek]

On fly sizes 16 and smaller, Gary Borger factors in the length of the hook eye as part of the insect length. Gary specifically discusses the hook eye in Designing Trout Flies pp. 178 :

"?.tiers have not considered the eye to be part of the representation of the food organism; rather, the eye (like the hook bend and point) is regarded as a necessary evil.

Thus when selecting hooks most tiers consider only the length of the shank (from the rear of the eye to the bend). But in fact, the eye should be considered in the overall length of the imitation especially when tying flies sizes 16 and smaller. In these smaller sizes, variations in length are more evident than in larger sizes (page 46). Time and time again, I've had highly selective fish refuse my fly only to readily take the same imitation tied one size smaller. In these situations, the length of the hook shank of the first fly I chose was the same length as the natural's body. For the fly one size smaller, the length of the shank plus the length of the eye matched the body length of the natural and thats the fly they wanted. Thus for flies size 16 and smaller, the eye must be considered an integral part of the overall length of the design.

Some designs lend themselves very nicely to hiding the eye?? In other designs the eye sticks out like a proverbial sore thumb. In these instances, consider the eye of the hook to represent the head of the insect"

I've heard other authors say many times that if you are certain about a hatch, but the trout are refusing the fly, go down a hook size. I think the eye of the hook lengthening the "apparent" body length to the fish may be a reason.

More food for thought when considering the hook eye.