Quote Originally Posted by bowfin47 View Post
Aaaahhh... we found that in small sizes, my fishing buddy and I missed a lot more trout with turned up eyes...
and we threw/gave away all our turned up Mustad hooks in anything smaller than #14's, and I'm so cheap I still have unused tying stuff from the 70's that I "may need someday"...


just my 2 cents,


Bowfin47


You can modify those small gape hooks by offsetting the point. This exposes the point when the fishes mouth flattens the fly.


When you try this on a fly that is already tied, you risk breaking off the barb, but I think it is worth the risk to improve the hooking percentage. Of course, when you tie on these hooks, you offset the eye before tying the fly.


Better yet, buy a 2X short hook to get a larger gap to shank length ratio, and add the offset. A Daiichi J220 is an example of such a hook. It is made in sizes 20, 22, and 24.