Up eye? Down eye?

All about flies Fly Tying
1

Can someone enlighten me as to the advantages or disadvantages of each of these hook options? I’ve tied on both, but thought it might be a good idea to know if some of my flies should always be on one or the other.

Thanks
JR

2

I use up eye hooks for tying spinners.

3

It doesn?t really matter much. May be of interest;

http://flytyingforum.com/mike/Flies/Spiders/Hooks/hooks.html

TL
MC

4

I can really add some confusion. I like ring eyes for most of my emerger patterns, parachutes and streamers. Use down eyes mostly on nymphs and other wet patterns.

5

Many flies just look so sexy on up eye hooks! That said, the up eye has the worst hooking leverage of the three eye positions, with the down eye being the best. On tiny hooks, it may be necessary to use a ring (straight) eye hook to increase the gap, but for most dries, wets, and nymphs, I’d stick with down eye hooks. On larger, long shank hooks used for streamers, the straight eye can work well. Why are traditional salmon flies tied on up eye hooks? Because they were tied to leaders with turle knots, which give a straight pull.

Chuck

6

Thanks all!!

I think I’ll try to use down and straight eyes from now on.

JR

7

I am experimenting this year with down-eye and straight-eye hooks with some buggers.

I tie them with the weight just on top of the hook shank so that they ‘flip over’ when they sink and then again when I strip a bit. They seem to reflect more sunlight when they flip with the flash in the tail and body. The bass seem to hit them a bit harder when they are doing that.

I noticed that the straight eye hooks do not flip over as readily when I do this however, so I am going to see if it seems to make a difference this year.

Just my post giving more info than you ever wanted to know. :slight_smile:

Oh, and I prefer the down-eye for almost everything but poppers and scuds.