Gamakatsu Hooks

Fly Patterns
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1

Ok I can see the some of the FOW have Gamakatsu hooks listed. Considering the fact that in my old days of bait fishing I would not use any other brand of hook for trout or panfish I wonder how many of you are using Gamakatsu or any other “premium” hooks for everyday tying. I know that they are more expensive than let’s say Mustad but in my humble opinion only Owner makes hooks that are sharper than Gamakatsu - questiond remains does the quality of better hook justify the price. On top of it Gamakatsu hooks stay sharp forever. I remember hooking and landing a rock - hook still stayed sharp.

BTW please do not use your fingers to test the point of Owner hooks. By the time you feel anythig it’s too late… :oops:

And just to clarify things : I am not affiliated with any hook manufacturer or reseller and I do not own any stock. Just a regular Joe…

2

You just named my two favorite hooks. That’s all I ever used for soft plastics and in fact still do. I have taken up fly fishing and tying. I am not good at either one. I use Mustad and Daiichi for tying purposes. If catching were the main objective or tying for someone else, I would probably not use the Mustad although I have no complaints with them. It would be just a personal choice.

3

I am still debating the hook factor. I always used mustad original and then their signature series hooks. Then I went Salmon fishing and pulled a lot of them. I just didn’t know if it was because I was using size 10’s or because the points weren’t penetrating their jaws. Then I read a book and the author (Dec Hogan) mentioned that japanese hooks (tiemco, daiichi) were always sharper than the european (mustad and partridge) as far as salmon hooks go. So I ordered some tiemco’s and was not overly impressed. Seem’s to me it only matters what you beleive in.

My opinion of the matter has become this: For small hooks, I use mustad signature, because of the way they are sized and scaled. Since the wire is so thin, I don’t see too much difference in the hooking power of different brands. However, with larger or heavy wire hooks, I will pay a little more for a “better” name. Not for actual proformance differences Ive seen in hooking power, but for differences in hook strength I have noticed. If I hook a large fish on a large fly with large tippet, I like to know I don’t have to worry about the hook breaking or straightening.

4

My sharpness testing (poking the hook into my thumb) revealed that Gamakatsu and Owner hooks are the winners by a mile. I tie all of my swap flies on good hooks. My go to hooks are Dai-ichi and Dai-riki. If Owner made hooks that are more useable for fly tying I would gladly use the more often. The challenge for me is to use an Owner (their target is bait anglers) and see how I can adapt a fly pattern to that style of hook. With the Gamakatsu that is no problem. THey are fine hooks and worth the price. I have never had to sharpen a Gamakatsu hook or an Owner hook. That means my line is in the water longer and that is a good thing. I will continue to search for Owner hooks that are suitable for tying flies. I recently bought 42 Owner hooks in #4 for $13.50, so that makes it .33 per hook. I am a poor man financially, but there are some things, quality things that I will buy, especially hooks, because tying flies is important to me, really important and I deserve the best.
Paul

Good topic - thanks.

5

unless the fly is for display, or you are breaking a lot of hooks, go with the cheaper. Your eventually gonna lose the fly anyway

WWFF

6

consider this: since I began to use Gamakatsu and Owner hooks, I have been tying flies that people want to see, flies that are the best I have tied. There is some kind of psychological thing happening here so I will stick with the best hooks. That said, I have a bunch of other hooks that I will tie flies with. I always keep a hook sharpener in my fly vest.
Good tying to all of you. :slight_smile:
Paul

7

I tie on several brands of hooks and agree with you that Gamakatsu and Owner are probably the two sharpest by a wide margin. I use these brands when I feel the application calls for it. For example, if I’m fishing for fish with a boney mouth or fishing deep where my hook set may not be as solid, then I go with the best. As anyone who has seen my flies will agree, I really don’t tie display flies. I try to use the best tool for the job that I am doing. While there is a significant price difference in different hook brands, I’m not sure I want to skimp on the least expensive part of the equation to save 10 cents on a fly. Just my opinion.

Jim Smith

8

redacted,

9

Thanks for the model number Bugsy, I will check them out. The hooks I pulled were curved scud/egg hooks. I still loose some fish with the tiemco and mustad salmon hooks, but it seems to be equal between the two. I have broken some mustads but never a tiemco to date, thats why I use them now.

10

Amen to that. I don’t own any hooks that can’t catch a tree.

11

Don’t beleive Jim Smith he’s a modest man and his flies kick some fish a%#. Love that diver you tied at the shallow water expo and it was great seeing you again Jim.

12

I use Mustads pretty much exclusively, except for patterns that require a hook model that they don’t make (one that comes to mind is the TMC 200R for stimulators).

I like my flies to be dispensible. That’s not to say they aren’t tied correctly, just that I like to be able to cast to, say under an overhanging branch along the stream. If I tied with more expensive hooks I likely would have reservations about casting a fly to those locations. With the less expensive hooks, I never hesitate to attempt a cast. Of course if I was really good I’d simply learn to cast better, but as it is, I’m a much better fly tyer than I am a fly caster. And besides, it gives me a good excuse to tye more flies.

Also, I’ve never had any problems with Mustads. I’ve heard people talk about them being brittle, but I find that’s just not the case. Not in the ones I’ve been using anyway. And after all, they’re a sponsor here.

-Darryl

13

Darryl, I have broken a number of Mustad 94840 hooks, but not in years. I have a feeling that their metallurgy has advanced a bit on the 20 years or so since I was breaking them. :wink:

Ed

14

Of course you may end up losing more fish too… I’ll sacrifice a few flies to ensure a good hook up.

15

Thanks guys. The more I think about this the more I am convinced to invest in better hooks. I hate when fish hits the fly and spits the fly cause the hook is not sharp enough for quick set. And sharpening hooks during streamtime is not my idea of having fun. BTW - Do you know of any good Gamakatsu dealers?

Got to write to Hook and Hackle. Maybe they could start selling them.

Got to write to Owner too. They need to broaden their products beyond bass fisherman.

Ha! Letters to Owner and Gamakatsu - can any one translate for to Japanease?

16

When I was doing the mainstream bass fishing thing years ago, Gami hooks were the considered the ‘best’. I kept breaking them, and found that many other fishermen I knew were having the same problem. They kept using them because it was ‘expected’ of them.

I find Gami hooks, and tiemco especially, to be brittle and prone to breaking. They ‘overtemper’ them so that they can hold that ridiculous tiny point without deforming on any rock or debris they encounter.

Mustad hooks are properly tempered and flex as they should.

We’ve come to believe, for some unknown reason, that the chemical sharpening process produces a sharper hook. It certainly does, in the box, from the factory.

However, I’ll debate with anyone that I can take a file to a Mustad hook and get it sharper in just a few seconds than ANY out of the box hook of ANY manufacture.

I’ll trust the skilled hands of an accomplished craftman every time over the mass produced ‘points’.

So, if you ‘sharpen’ your hooks properly, it’s not an issue.

We spend lots of time tying the flies. Why not a few seconds to sharpen the hooks?

Just an opinion from the other side of this issue.

Good Luck!

Buddy

17

I have wondered why folks complain about loosing fishing time to sharpen…sure some sharpening becomes necessary on the water at times…If I think it’s necessary [not often now] I’ll sharpen at the vise…having said that if I had hooks out of the box that I thought needed sharpening I wouldn’t buy anymore…

Hey Buddy what’s your opinion of the Mustad Signatures vs the regular Mustads?

18

I agree I can sharpen my mustads sharper then eny boxed hook and have never broke a mustad hook. I’ve fished with and talked with many guides in FL and most use mustad for there strength and ease of sharpening.

19

another brand at a good price is Eagle Claw, i’ve never had any trouble with them

20

Duckster,

I buy fly hooks in this order of ‘preference’:

Eagle Claw if they make it in the size/shape I want (I REALLY like the Eagle Claw fly hooks-sharp, strong, consistent, not too pricey).

Regular old Mustad (NOT only ‘fly hooks’, mostly just plain old ‘fishin’ hooks), for ALL my spun hair/poppers/bass flies, streamers, and for most of my trout stuff that I can’t find an Eagle Claw for.

All other brands (if I walk into a fly shop someplace and ‘need’ some hooks, I’ll buy what they have, usually getting whichever they have in the size/style I want for the lowest price). I’ve ended up with Targus, Dai-Riki, VMC (great hooks, hard to find on store shelves), and even, when I can’t get anything else, Tiemco or Daiichi.

I’ve never purchased the Mustad ‘signature’ hooks, they cost too much for what you get, and I’ve always been able to find a ‘better’ value.

In all my years of fishing, I’ve never lost a fish because of a ‘bad’ hook. I’m lost them to bad knots (my fault), bad hooksets (again, my fault), and poor reaction to the fish during a fight (again, my fault).

As far as I know, I’ve never failed to ‘hook’ a fish because of the ‘quality’ of the hook I was using (see above). If that happens, I can usually do the old ‘mirror’ test to find out what went wrong.

AND, I’ve never fished with anyone who caught more or larger fish than I did because of the brand of hook they were using.

In any event, I’m not as ‘picky’ about hooks as much as I am about keeping them sharp. I sharpen all the hooks I use, EVERY time I use them. I check them often (my casting sometimes allows the hook point to encounter things other than fish, water, and weed).

A sharp hook makes sense to me. I know how to do that.

An ‘expensive’ hook seems wasteful to me. After all, it’s going to end up stuck on a rock, tree, bush, belt loop, ear, or carpet eventually.

It’s just a fish hook. Nothing ‘high tech’ here. They been doing these, and doing them well, for a couple of centuries. They all seem to work okay, provided the fisherman does his part.

Good Luck!

Buddy