I wanna be a Hooker!
I wanna be a hooker but I am confused on how to start. I look at patterns that recommend purchase of say a Mustad XXXX or TMC ZZZ-C. I rush to any number of fly tying equipment suppliers only to find No, Zip, Zero, Nada reference nor hook for sale by that manufacturer by that number.
I use the Hook cross reference I found through Google. Most times, there is no direct correlation of one hook to the other.
How did you guys get to be hookers if ya cannot find the hooks?
Mark,
Don’t sweat the small stuff.
This is just fly tying. It’s not medical science or something where it ‘matters’.
Just look at the general size/shape/length of the hook and get something close.
You can tie most patterns on three ‘styles’ of hook, if you don’t mind ‘bending’ a few. A light wire hook for Dries. A standard wire hook for wets/nymphs. A long shank hook for streamers.
That’s all you ‘need’ and in a pinch you can do without the light wire hooks (standard wire hooks do work for dry flies). If you want, for some weird reason, a hook with an ‘odd’ shape to it, then just bend the closest of the above into that shape.
Good Luck!
Buddy
What Buddy said…
But…wouldn’t it be nice if recipes said…
Standard dry fly…
Standard nymph…or Heavy nymph…etc.
2x long…etc etc 4x…
You know all the specs…
Why do we talk in numbers and then try to compare brands??? :roll: 
It ain’t rocket science.
Simplify,simplify, simplify!
I bend hooks all the time. I’ve even been told to get bent!!! :lol:
Charlie
Glad to see that question, I have had the same problem and had finally resolved myself to the notion that I would never be able to remember which hook I was supposed to use… so I just started buying whatever I could find that looked like the picture. It has worked fine for me (with some exceptions).
As Buddy shows, in order to be a good hooker, you have to have a few tricks. 
I ignore the hook specification in pattern listings and use what I figure is better for hooking. Generally, that means a shorter shank or switching to a wider gape.
I also generally ignore pattern listings altogether and just do what I feel the pattern should be like. Sometimes, it ends up totally different!
Mark,
It is as everyone has said…
I will only look at the pattern hook size to see what size the person who created the fly uses and then I use the size I think will work for my area and style of fishing. I do think that you should look at the size hook requested by the pattern because if you do not, you might tie a fly that is suppose to be a midge and you tie it on a #8!!
I usually [besides size] pretty much want to know the length…helps with proportions.
I live by the KISS (keep it simple silly) why complicate things, i dont get why people feel the need to tie super realistic complicated patterns (they look awesome and take talent to tie) when a simpler one works just as good if not better some times. Its more enjoyable, and you can tie a few more flies a day.
Nick
Have you tried this reference?
http://www.killroys.com/hooks/
Even if you cant find an exact match you can use the Attribute columns ot find a close match between the manufacturers.
Thank you…Crotalus… 
Unfortunately,…that’s why we are complaining…we wish we didn’t have to use those kind of references…
I just want to see a recipe and just reach to my hooks and pick something similar :roll:
Hooker? Is that not ilegal. :lol:
I that reminds me of the time a lady informed us in the pub that her husband was a careful driver as he always drives slow when in and around the docks during the weekend, her brother had informed her about her husbands careful driving skills. Wonder if she has cottoned on yet?
Mark, I remember starting out in flytying and your absolutely right on. It was very confusing. The directions would ask for a hook that you couldn’t find or a feather that wasn’t available. The directions that I had for tying a Hendrickson, which are used here in the spring, was to use urine stained fox fur. That’s not going to happen. Synthetics work just fine. All you need to get started is a standard dry fly hook, standard nymph and any streamer hook. A dry fly hook is 1X fine wire standard length. A standard nymph hook is 1X long wire hook. If you learn how to tye a dry fly in the next few years you will be doing great. Tying a dry fly isn’t that hard, tying two that look the same is.
A dry fly hook is 1x fine wire in a standard length. Don’t worry about the name brand. All hooks are basically the same. I don’t want to debate this for months that’s why I said basically. They’re wire bent in a hook shape with a sharp point. There must be 6 or more manufactures selling in the U.S.
I think that it’s more important to learn how to apply the materials than it is to use the correct hook.
I agree with everyone else. I would add that if you do a lot of stillwater fishing to the list I would add a curved scud hook. You can bend straight shank hooks but its easier if you start with a curved one.
By the way if you want to be a hooker that lovely lavender font shade is a good start :shock: :lol:
" By the way if you want to be a hooker that lovely lavender font shade is a good start "
I think this will be my laugh of the day…good one. :lol:
Like the man said…“Don’t sweat the small stuff.” As long as you get close, it will work. If Cabelas has a sale on thier straight-eye streamer hooks, then I tie streamers on them, instead of the normal down-eye hook. As far as I can tell, the fish don’t care one way or another.
Semepr Fi!
I have come to the conclusion that 90% of the guys and gals who can spout out model numbers for hooks, rather than a description, are probably folks who have told enough flies that it’s just 2nd nature. The other 10% may be a little tiny bit OCD