More flies on Drennan Hooks

All about flies Fly Tying
1

Here are a trio of flies on the Drennan Bait hooks, two spiders and a Grey Duster.
Crow

Greenwell

Dry

I like these hooks. :slight_smile:

2

those appear to be stout hooks! Nice flies, Donald.

3

Thanks Gardenfish
I started using them after reading about them in a Roger Fogg book, also someone on another BB reminded me of them. Fogg said that they are the nearest you can get to the old gut whipped flies of the originals.
They give a very neat head as well.

4

Donald,
Those are lovely flies. I too use the Drennan Carbon Specimen bait hooks for spiders/soft hackle flies. Your Greenwell Spider has the small barb I’m used to seeing, but the Bluebottle and Grey Duster seem to have shiny hook points that look like the barb has been ground off. Correct? If so have you ground off the barbs or are they available that way from Drennan?
Thanks.

Bill

5

Hi Bill,
Here is the barbed hook I use:-
Drennan Carbon Specimen (Barbed)
Eyed, bronze, barbed, round bend, medium shank,slight reverse, high carbon wire, forged, chemically etched needle point.
http://www.swiftys-fishing-tackle.co.uk … cts_id=794

I think it is the lightest wired hook of all the Specimen hooks
There doesn’t seem to be a barbless version.

Here are the barbless hooks I am using, I think they are heavier wired, the Super Specialist certainly seems so. I Have not checked with a micrometer which is the only way to be sure. :-
Drennan Specimen Barbless Hooks
Eyed, bronze, barbless, special bend, medium shank, forged reversed, medium wire.
http://www.swiftys-fishing-tackle.co.uk … cts_id=783

Drennan Barbless Super Specialist Hooks
Eyed, bronze, barbless, special bend, medium shank, forged reversed, heavy carbon wire, chemically etched needle point.
http://www.swiftys-fishing-tackle.co.uk … cts_id=761

I hope ths is of some use to you, and anyone else interested.

p.s. The dry fly is tied on a TMC barbless, not a Drennan.

6

Donald those are nice ties. Those hooks almost look to be Cricle style hooks the way they are made? Strong to LOL. Ron

7

Very nice flies, indeed. Thanks for posting.

I am becoming curious about those hooks and their benefits.

8

Donald,
Thanks very much. I’m nearly ready to order more Drennan hooks but wasn’t aware they also had barbless models of the (nearly) same hook. Drat! My order size just increased.
Barbless is probably not a good idea for the small brook trout we encounter since the little beauties seem to go in at least 742 directions simultaneously when hooked. I learned long ago that a tight line isn’t quite enough to hold them. That’s when the barb is valuable. But there are many other occasions when a spider on a barbless hook will be just the ticket.
Again, thanks very much.

Bill

9

Very Classy Flies! Good Stuff 8)

10

Thanks flymaker2,

Littlebrook,
Those little brookies sound very similar in their behaviour to the little wild brownies in the mountain streams and lochans.
A lot of them get very occasional fishing over and they really take umbrage to being hooked. Although there can be some surprisingly large fish in the lochans.

11

Hi Littlebrook,
I decided to check the wire guage of the Drennan hooks against other hooks I have used for soft hackles. Here are the results :-

Wire thickness on various #12 Hooks. In thou. or 0.001 of 1.0 inch.
Drennan Carbon Specimen - 20th
" Specimen - 20th
" Super Specimen - 23th

 Mustad 3906 Wet Fly                  -  24th
 Capt.Hamilton Wet Fly                -  22th
 Capt. Hamilton Dry Fly               -  19th
 TMC100BL                                 -  21th
12

Donald,
Great flies! Any place in the colonies that we can get those hooks?

13

Hi hurly,

I looked carefully several years ago and didn’t find any Drennan hooks in the US, so I ordered them from the UK. No problems. Very easy business transaction. I don’t remember which shop I ordered from but I’m confident the one in Donald’s posts would help you out.

However I’ll be pleased to learn if there’s a company in the US that now sells them.

I suspect that the Mustad 3906 works just as well but I just like the shape of the Drennan Specimen hooks. And they fit the history and tradition of spiders far better.

Good luck in your search.

Bill

14

Donald I did an experiment tying some tiny black flies onto a drennen ultra pole hook the other day. They are available down to a minute size 28, but have quite a long but very fine shank. The drawback is that they only appear available in spade ends, so I tied some directly onto a fine leader before dressing them.

I tried them when the fish were taking midges, and caught fish when others struggled.

15

Looks like you are going back to your roots Mick :slight_smile: .
Tying flies on spade ends? Why don’t you post a picture?
They would be very interesting.

By-the-by, I have found some Daiichi hooks as an alternative to the Drennan hooks, I think they are available in the U.S.
Multi-Use Dry Fly Hook 1640
Available in bronze sizes: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20
This is probably the same hook but repackaged for Drennan by Daiichi.

There are a couple more straight eyed hooks by Daiichi that look useful -
Wide-Gape Dry Fly Hook, Straight Eye 1110
Available in bronze sizes: 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26

Limerick Dry Fly Hook 1480
Available in bronze sizes: 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24

There is a lot more info on the hooks on the site I looked at which I very inconveniently have forgotten,
but I did find it with google by calling up Daiichi 1640.