How many hooks do you have on hand?
Do you buy hooks before you need them?
Just curious.
Rick
I did a quick inventory of my hooks. I guestimate, nearly 1,000 hooks. Give or take 100.
Yes, I buy before I need them.
Wayne
Probably at least 4000 or more.
I like to keep at least 100 on hand of dry fly hooks since I can burn through that many on one pattern with color variations.
Pretty much the same deal on wet fly & nymph hooks. Streamer hooks usually 50 per of each type & size.
I buy ahead of time mostly because my local fly shops have lousy inventory and take forever to order, mostly to save themselves freight. As a result I usually buy online.
I keep apporx. 1800 on hand, about 100 each of different size dry’s, wet’s, streamer and caddis or scud’s. I use mustad hooks because I like there performance and sharpness. I restock when I get down to about 50 of a certain size and type. John
[url=http://home.comcast.net/~bassman540/johnsfliesandswaps.html:7d8a9]http://home.comcast.net/~bassman540/johnsfliesandswaps.html[/url:7d8a9]
I wish you all everlasting flies and tight lines.
[This message has been edited by bassman (edited 24 September 2005).]
I usually keep about 2000 on hand mostly in the sizes I used most commonly. I have only 10-20 of the sizes I rarely use such as 18s and smaller since I fish mainly for bass and panfish. I do look for hooks on sale and buy up large amounts when I can get them much cheaper.
Jim Smith
I have between 2000 and 2500 on hand, not counting the allmost 1000 blind eye hooks my neighbor gave me last week. Don’t have the slightest idea what I will do with them. I buy in “bulk” ahead of need in order to reduce shipping costs.
Tim
Rick,
I think there are certain materials some tiers simply cannot get enough of, be it hackle, dubbing, silk, etc.
When it comes to hooks, I just guess I’m nuts. At one time I had about 8,000 hooks in my ‘travel kit’ and that’s not an exaggeration. That number is somewhat less now but not by much. Additionally I have, and this is a conservative guess, about 15,000 hooks in my tying room.
Allan
I have a lot of hooks…not even going to estimate or try and figure out how many…and I buy some every chance I get…wheather or not I have any specfic use or pattern in mind for them…as I know at some point I’ll be needing them…I mostly just keep replenshing my stock of the basic nessities hooks…Dries,Nymphs,Wets,Streamer…But I assume everyone finds themselves buying in that manner…Prices are just outragous on hooks and I for one could go broke just doing that…
“I’ve often wondered why it is that so many anglers spend so much money on,and pay so much attention to.the details on the wrong end of the fly line.If they took as much care in selecting or tying their flies as they did in the selection of the reel and rod,They might be able to gain the real extra edge that makes it possible to fool a fish that has,in fact,seen it all before” A.K.Best
“Wish ya great fishing”
Bill
Rick,
Several thousand easily. For each type and size (dry, wet, salmon, egg, etc) I buy them by the 100 box. When I get down to about half, I reorder.
REE
I must be the odd man out. I only have about 50 hooks right now (4 different sizes) and I won’t buy more until I need them. I can’t get out to the water often, so I don’t tie often. When I do tie, I tie what I need - 1 or 2 of a pattern, which right now probably isn’t going to work anyway.
That’s how it’s been lately. I’ve changed locations (larger lake closer to home) to fish and it takes me time to get the pattern of catching figured out.
There’s almost nothin’ wrong with the first lie, it’s the weight of all the others holdin’ it up that gets ya’! - Tim
Eyeballing the hook box and the wall, prolly a thousand plus. And yes, I stock up when I find deals and on hooks of which I use a lot. Buying three or four hundred hooks at a time is common.
Dennis
I probably have somewhere between 1,000 and 10,000 hooks, not counting bait hooks and plastic worm hooks and jig hooks, etc. I’m primarily a flyfisherman, but will fish for anything that tugs on my line. I’ve even been known to string a trotline for catfish…(blush)…
Let’s just say I’ll never have to buy another hook as long as I live.
A couple years ago a local retailer was closing out some stock and giving away Eagle Claw Aberdeen hooks in size 6 and 8 at $0.50 for a box of 100.
Those are some of my most used hooks, so I bought a couple thousand of each. I also bought a thousand each of size 2 and 4 Aberdeens for bass off Ebay a while back.
Plus a few thousand Mustad dry fly hooks and the assorted hundreds of specialty hooks.
If I just could find more time to tie them…
Jim
Looking through the desk and roller drawers I’m going to say a bit over 10,000 
Everything from the rare 32’s to the 10/0 big, scary pelagic hooks.
I’ll give you one guess which manufacturer they are produced by
. . . oh and YES, I plan to tie a fly on each and every one of them and get sore arms catching fish with those flies
Jeff - AKA Dr. Fish
If it has fins and swims than I must chase it!
Dr. Fish,
Does that number include your car stock? Or would that throw the number into 7 digits?
Joe
Yes Dr Fish I know–I started children tying class with 4000 size 6 8 10 and 12 of the same Mustad brand.
Bill
I haven’t been tying too long but I’ve got roughly 3000.
Recently picked up 600 Mustad 3399A because it works well for me and is much cheaper than the other models for some reason (like the 3906).
Rick, why do you always ask the hard questions?
Darn I thought that was any easy one.
Rick
Two summers ago when I was home recovering I straightened out most of my fly tying stuff. I believe I had 180 some boxes of 100 and about 4 dozen boxes of 25. Some of these were obtained when I bought out a couple of estates. Others, (Partridge}, were given to me by the late Alan Bramley when I wrote for Fly Tyer. He sent them to everyone who wrote a regular column. This past summer Ole sent me some more Partridge. Yes, I know Mustad bought them out and continues to sell many of the Partridge line. Jeff at Mustad has also given me hooks and the one that they don’t make anymore, the Grey Shadow that I tie my Mosquito on I owe a big “thank you” to Robert Spaight over in England for coming up with a few hundred in size 20 that will last me the rest of my life. I gave some old boxes of Ray Bergman hooks to Don Bastian who uses them when he ties the old Bergman wet flies like in the book forgotten flies. Also we often get some sample packs when we tie at the shows or like when Varivas first came over Ed Koch who was in their booth with them gave me several boxes of their’s. Nice hooks. Too bad they left the scene.