I have been flyfishing for about 6 years now (the last 2 years a lot more than the 1st 4), and I’ve mainly used nymphs. I really enjoy fishing with nymphs and I’ve had good success with them. Plus, they are fun and relatively inexpensive to tie. (I use 85% of my own flies) Therefore, I have just occasionally used dries.
This year, I’d like to branch out and start using dries more. I’d also like to tie my own. So far, my budget hasn’t allowed me to fork over the money to buy quality dry fly hooks and hackle, but I was wondering if I could just use regular nymph hoooks for my dry fly needs. My only concern would be that the nymph hooks that I use [Dia-Riki 060) are very strong, and therefore might be too heavy. I didn’t know if any of you had any experience with this topic. Thanks for the responses.
P.S. The I use, [url=http://stores.ebay.com/Gypsy-Outdoors:94bb4]Gypsy Outdoors[/url:94bb4], an eBay seller. I have dealt with them two different times, and I really appreciate their great hooks, prices, and service.
Hydlide,
They certainly would be heavier. This may cause trouble trying to float a sparsely dressed dry fly (for example, a comparadun or a no-hackle), but a heavily hackled one or one using foam may not make too much of a difference. Let me emphasize the words “too much”. However, the fact that you said you don’t have any quality dry fly hackle isn’t going to help either. Less expensive or wet fly hackle will soak up water and make the fly that much heavier.
Joe
You’ll probably have a tough time finding a nymph hook to use as a dry fly hook. I have used some small emerger hooks (16’s and 18’s) to tie some flies using cdc. They work fine. You might be able to get away with it on some flies if you use quality hackle and floatant. I’m sure you’ll get better advice from others.
The answer is, it depends on what dry flies you want to tie. For instance big stoneflies and hoppers can be properly tied on nymph hooks, as you want them to kind of dig into the surface film and w/ materials like foam and deer hair you can float almost any hook. But if you want to imitate BWO spinners in size 20, they are probably gonna sink on a nymph hook. You can get by w/o hackle as there are a lot of dry patterns that don’t need it, like the comparadun, but you are going to want them on a light wire hook. On the other hand w/ good hackle you could probably get by w/ nymph hooks. A couple of packages of hooks is going to be lot cheaper than an investment in dry fly hackle though.
Hydlide, just give it a try and see if you can make it work. Think elkhair, extra turns of hackle, a few more fibers in the tail, sparsely dubbed or thread bodies, plenty of high quality floatant and you’ll get them to float ok.
Also it’s going to improve your presentation. Any recoil will pull your fly under if it’s already borderline ‘floaty’ so I say just go for it.
If your budget is tight try Mustad Classic hooks like the 94840 for your dry flies. While many, (including me) now use some of the fancier hooks, Mustad’s served most of us well for years and caught many a fish.
I swear that they are almost the same price as they were when I first started tying flies back in Halford’s day.
Once funds allow you can graduate to other brands or stick with the “Classics” if you’re satisfied.
I would give the Dai-Riki 060’s a shot. I use them for nymphs and really like them. I cant say that I have tried them for dries, but being that they are 1X strong…they might work really well for certain flies…as mentioned aboved elk hair flies or even comapraduns/sparkle duns. I can’t say I have tried them on flies with hackle such as an Adams or Catskill pattern, but try a couple out and see how it goes.
I frequently use Dai-Riki 135 (scud hooks 1x strong) for smaller (18-24) emerger patterns I tie (especially sprout emergers and a variation I tie of the the cream midge spinner). I don’t seem to have any problems with using the heavier hook. I like having a bit of extra strength in the hook on smaller flies. I have used Dai-Riki 125 (emerger hooks standard wire) with good success as well, but prefer the heavier hook for added strength.
As for using TMC…I have used both scud hooks 2457 (2x strong) and the emerger hooks (I forget the number since I dont have any around right now) and had good results both ways. Again I prefer a bit heavier hook there as well.
As for “standard” dry fly hooks (TMC 100, Dai-Riki 305 or 320 which are my choices)…on most dry flies I stick to dry fly hooks and haven’t tried nymph hooks.
blah blah blah yadda yadda yadda…Just my two cents for what it is worth (or not worth hehehehe).
If you are looking for an assortment of quality hackle in just a few sizes look on cabela’s website. They have a metz hackle assortment. It will give you enought to tie in 3 or 4 sizes and 3 different colors. The feathers are still on the capes. Check it out there and then search other sites for the same poduct to compare price and shipping. I bought 2 assortments a few years ago and was very happy with them. Goodluck. http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templ … id=0011691 This may be the link to the feathers on Cabela’s
i use nymph hooks for most of my foam flies, tie up a dry on the hooks you have, and fill the sink up. put is in the sink and test to see if it floats. Push it under a bit so that it gets wet.
Back in the day it was a common thing to do when trying a dry for salmon or other large fish. Just have a more dense hackle and make sure the tail is nice and stiff.
Joe Fox
No one has mentioned proportions. Dry flies have been traditionally tied on Mustad 94840 and the proportions of the fly determined by the hook length and gap width. A Dai-riki 060 is 1XL, which means that (presuming similar hook patterns between the two companies) a Dar-r size 14 will have the same length as a Mustad size 12, but with a smaller hook gap. So flies tied on the Dai-r nymph hook may look a little stretched or may have hackle (and possibly wings) that are too short. This can be managed of course, but the tier needs to be aware of the pitfalls. Hoppers and stoneflies are rather long creatures, so are good suggestions, but for mayflies & caddis I would prefer the standard proportion hook.
Greg makes a good point. Most nymphs (that I tie) are on a 1x or longer hook while most dries are tied on a standard size hook. I like to save $$ also and use a mustad 94831 hook for both nymphs and dries that are tied 2x (hoppers stones).
I use Mustad hooks for most of the hooks I tie. Boxes of 100 are around $8. So if I bought dry fly hooks in the three sizes that I fish most 12, 14, and 16 it only sets me back 24$.
