Does anyone know where to get a good deal on fly tying hooks? I’m on a low budget and am just looking for cheap hooks to tie a variety of flies. I saw at WaL-Mart they had a aberdeen style hook, but I wasn’t sure if they would work. If you guys could help me out that would be great.
Try one of the sponsors on this site: Hook and Hackle.
You will be better off dollar wise buying fly tying hooks in boxes of 100. You needn’t buy the most expensive brands. Mustad hooks are least expensive and excellent. For dries get the 94840; wets the 3399 or 3906; nymphs 3906B or 9671; streamers 9672 or 79850.
Hope this helps.
Allan
Thanks Alan, that helped a lot. Are there certain sizes that you reccomend?
Well, since I’m guessing you are just starting, I’d say you should start with decent size hooks, as well as materials, so you don’t have to deal with ‘extremes’. For dries a size 12; wets a size 10 or 12; nymphs a size 12; and streamers a size 10. These hook sizes are user friendly and the flies that you tie will be perfectly suited for fishing.
You should look at the ‘Fly Tying’ section on this site for some excellent information. A fly shop can provide some hands on exposure and personal advise, your local library will probably have some books to read in addition to information on the internet.
Allan
Thanks again Allan, also does anyone offer an assortment of hooks in any size or style?
Southbend brand has assorted dial-a-hook boxes that K-Mart sometimes carries or maybe you can get them on-line from Southbend. Big Lots also sometimes carries assorted dial-a-hook boxes but I forget the brand name. Size 12 or 10 on up to about size 2 usually. Some are light wire Aberdeen, some are heavy wire in Aberdeen lengths, some are heavy wire long shank streamer style hooks, etc. You have to get the assorted styles and sizes they give in the assortment. Best of luck.
Thanks dixieangler, I didn’t know that K-Mart sold aberden style hooks. If they would have a assortment with hooks down to size 12 that would be great. Wal-Marts smallest size is 8, so this would allow me to tie smaller sizes.
Depends on the K-Mart I think. I’m not sure every K-Mart will carry them. The one here no longer stocks Southbend like it use to. You might be better off just going on-line to Southbend and ordering direct from them or find a Southbend dealer near you. If you have a Big Lots in your area, they may or may not have them. The Big Lots here used to carry them but like K-Mart here they don’t anymore. Best of luck.
Some Fly Anglers/Dressers, consider the Aberdeen, a hook style with a Perfect bend. Looking at hooks, it is sometimes hard to see all the thought and planning, that went into the hooks design.
Some of the hooks, are sold by the bend curvature of the hook. These go by many names…
Aberdeen, Perfect, Beak, Sneck, Bublin, Wilson, York, Sproat, O’Shaughnessy, Limerick, Continuous, Round, Hamilton, Viking, Bartleet, ect.
Light wire hooks for dry fly patterns , and heavy wire hooks for wet flies/nymph(pupa) patterns.
Hi Warm Water FF,
I use inexpensive aberdeen style hooks often and they seem to work just fine. I currently have Eagle Claw 214ELM on my tying desk. I’m using them to tie grasshopper patterns.
Steve, thank you very much for the link on the hook chart. I really needed that. I have hook catalogs from most of the manufacturers and have to admit I’ve been going through them when I need to refer to “substitutes.” The chart you provided in the link to will save me a lot of time. I wish I would have had it yesterday when I spent 45 minutes looking up hooks for a magazine article. The internet sure has a bunch of information on it, I just need to learn how to use it better. Take care & …
Tight Lines - Al Beatty
www.btsflyfishing.com
Al Beatty, where can I get Eagle Claw 214ELM hooks? I can’t seem to find them anywhere.
Hi,
I don’t have a retail source. I get them at Sportsman’s Supply in Missouri a wholesaler to bait fishing/spin gear stores. I find some of items intended for that crowd cross over into fly fishing very well. I think you said you saw aberdeen hooks at WalMart, that sounds like a place to get them. I don’t think they have to be Eagle Claw. Other manufacturers also make them. Eagle Claws just happens to be what I have on hand at the moment. Take care & …
Tight Lines - Al Beatty
www.btsflyfishing.com
Thanks Al Beatty, I’ll have to look for them next time I get to Wally World.
Just a thought: Since I was a kid -and that was a long while ago, I have been buying hooks and fishin’ gear mailorder from netcraft. The place is still going strong and seems to be strong on most of the Eagle Claw hooks. I get my EC413’s from them these days. I know they have beaucoupe Aberdeen sizes there. They carry Mustad Aberdeen Hooks too, which is always a smart choice.
Back in the days before internet, I would work for hours on putting a catalog order together, cull it down a few times and then ship it off to wait for the boxes and grab bags to arrive. Oh Man those grab bags were awesome. You just selected one based upon dollar amount and you had no idea what was going to be inside; except you knew there was going to be a ton of cool fishing odds n ends in there.
Try this link:[url=http://www.jannsnetcraft.com/aberdeen-live-bait%20hooks/:ce5bc]Grab Bag Palace :D[/url:ce5bc]
I have no real experience with Aberdeen hooks since I have avoided them because I target mostly trout [hopefully large] and steelhead. Given that is it fair to say they are light weight enough that they are best reserved for gills etc.?..or have you found them to be pretty strong?
flymaker2: I am relatively new to tying (in my 3rd year) and continue to build my experience and broaden my horizons, at least as far as warmwater tying is concerned. One of these days, I’ll make a trip to the mountains and fish some streams for trout.
Anyway, back to what I was going to say: THANK YOU for posting that link to Jannsnetcraft.com, looks like a very good site to order a variety of things.
I love this FAOL site! I only recently signed up for the BB, but I’ve been checking it out on at least a weekly basis for the past year or so and have learned a lot, not just from the articles and tutorials, but from tiers like you!
Given that is it fair to say they are light weight enough that they are best reserved for gills etc.?..or have you found them to be pretty strong?
Phil,
They are light wire and are usually labeled as “panfish hooks” but they are strong enough as I have never had one straighten out. I guess I could probably purposely straighten one with enough torque. Being light wire, they lend themselves to surface patterns better but can be also used for subsurface maybe with a little weight added. I don’t see why you couldn’t use them for “some” trout patterns though that use a little longer shanks. One nice thing about Aberdeens is that most of them are almost always consistent in hook gap sizes unlike other hooks. For instance I can take a Mustad 9672 size 8 and an Aberdeen size 8, set them on a table and the Aberdeen will fit inside the Mustad both of the same size. But if I compare a Mustad 9672 size 10 to the Aberdeen size 8, they are the same size in hook gap size and shank length. Aberdeens seem to usually be one size smaller than most other hook sizes so hook gap size comparisons (not hook styles) can be made based on Aberdeen sizes provided that all Aberdeens are created equal :). Another reason I don’t use hook charts but I would not recommend to others that the Aberdeen method be used due to the possibility of variation in Aberdeen hook sizes.