Kamasan Fly Hooks

[lastchance]

Hey Donald and All: What hook style would you recommend for dressing traditional wet flies be they Daiichi, Kamasan, or others etc.? I used to use the Mustad 3399 but I can't get them anymore.

[texfly]

Thanks for all the helpful info Donald. I'm most interested in hooks such as the B160. I guess that's one style thats for the European market because I have not found anything that seem's to compare to it in other brand's.
Narcodog , thank's also. I'll do a little digging and see if I can find the old thread's.

[Fatman]

Lastchance

Don't know what size your looking for but if you go to Capt Hooks http://www.captainhookswarehouse.com...roducts&view=1 they have the 3399 in size 16, 4 and 1/0

[jszymczyk]

. As in the #16 has the gape of a #14.

Then it's a 14 with a short shank, not a 16 with a big gap.... I wish to God the hook makers would adopt a standard regarding hook sizes. Mustad has done BY FAR the best with their signature hooks, it all makes sense once you take 93 seconds to understand the code. IMO (which is worth what...?) the hook SIZE should always refer to the gap-- shank length is irrelevant to the number size.

[Donald Nicolson]

I thought you might like to see a traditional Scottish fly on a short shank hook.

[whatfly]

shank length is irrelevant to the number size.

Huh? While I might agree that the hook model numbers are hard to keep track of across vendors, not sure why this would make life any easier. Problem is there really isn't an ideal "standard hook" nor a standard proportion out there from which all other hook sizes could be derived from, and even if there were, why would that necessarily simplify matters (imagine a 1.5XL, 1.75XH hook). Each manufacturer starts with some sort of base line but there are going to be variations in proportions not only across styles, but within styles as well.

Best way of dealing with the confusion is to stick with a single vendor, focus on as few hooks styles as you can cope with, and ignore everyone else. For the rest of, I don't mind dealing with subtle variations across vendors if they produce a style or type of hook that I both like and catches fish...and yes, the first criteria is more important to me than the second, although I require BOTH criteria to be met.

[texfly]

Very nice pattern Donald. It's those types of pattern's that got me interested in the hook's. They really seem to better fit those type of wet fly pattern's.

[kelkay]

Great fly there Donald. The hook is sweet too.

[Donald Nicolson]

Here is a little of the KeHe's history, from the 1930's.
Mr Kemp and Mr Heddle were fishing in one of the Orkney lochs and noticed
that some small fat brown bees were being taken by the trout. The lochs usually
have a anglers rest hut and they may have gone back and dressed this fly asap.
It was so successful, it became a classic.
This is used as a loch fly, fished in the traditional loch style,
in a cast of three, from a drifting boat.

[Flyfish Dog]

Nice! I buy up many Kamasan I come across since I believe their hooks are great and not one problem with them. I prefer the wet hooks with an upturned eye.