Spey Pages banner

When is a hook too large???

3K views 14 replies 14 participants last post by  patrick r 
#1 ·
I was in a local fly shop yesterday and picked up a package of Partridge CS 10/1 hooks. I thought that they were 1/0, but when I set to tying tonight I realized that they were 3/0. Now I have never tied on a hook this large, but I tied a Orange Heron on this iron. I thought it turned out rather nicely. Does any one else tie any steelhead patterns on hooks this large. If so What patterns do you tie?
I primarily fish the St Joe in and around South Bend and occasionally make up into Michigan. Are these irons to large?
Thanks,
Rich
 
#2 ·
When it has the potential to kill

Hooks of that size can be killers for smaller fish and smolts and can even kill and do major eye and body damage to larger fish.

I say too big to fish but probably a great display size for a shadow box etc.

my 2 cents
 
#4 ·
i started a thread a while ago on this topic. i usually never fish anything bigger then a 2 in a 7999 or a 1.5 or 3 from AJ.

my fear is using a hook any larger then 1/0 will result in braining a fish or the fish getting it in the tongue. both of those end in a bad day for the fish.
 
#6 ·
I have been fishing 1.5 through 3/0s for 25 years and have never had a problem and have never brained a fish with a large hook. I have hurt more fish with smaller hooks, but then I have caught more fish on small flies. The only problem I have found in the use of larger hooks is the length of the shank and the leverage the fish can put on the hook. Yes a larger hook is hard on smolts but then it seems I hook more on smaller hooks and even the small steelhead hooks damage the small fish. There are advantages in using small hooks but the advantage goes to the angler not the fish. I have seen more outside of the mouth hook ups with smaller hooks causing far more damage than a solid hook up in the mouth with a larger hook. On my last trip I saw a fish hooked in the eye with a small hook, again an outside of the mouth hook up. The last fish I tongue hook was with a tube fly. Say what makes you feel good but it is a blood sport and large or small you are going to hurt a fish every now and then.
 
#8 · (Edited)
When is a hook too large???

When the hook gap is larger than 1/2" according to the DNR.

I was tying up a couple of 2/0's last night and my friend Jerry
asked if the gap was larger than 1/2". We measured and it was
31/32". edit: Oops, that shoulda been 31/64ths !

So that 2/0 is still legal anyway.
That gap limit is to deter "Snaggers" BTW.

Larry
 
#9 ·
i think the notion that fish caught on large hooks while using a tight line type presentation stand a good chance of being injured is simply not true.

I commonly fish 1/0 tiemcos for summer fish and quite often fish 4/0 heavy irons in the summer and have taken fish of all sizes on them. and never had one hooked other than in the corner of the jaw or the tip if the nose.

I think the one great thing about the swinging presentation is that it does not allow the fly to be taken deeply where it can cause damage

and flies tied on larger hooks can be very effective

I like Skunks and purple perils on 1/0 and a black king on the 3/0 and 4/0
 
#11 ·
Hi Rich,

I cast flies up to 3/0 for king salmon but can't actually say that a big hook / fly is really necessary. Last year after failing to have a fish caught on the big stuff I got my first and only king of the season on a size 2 Skykomish Sunrise while fishing for sockeye's.

I started making the big flies just three years ago and even have double hooks in 2/0. The big hook thing was in response to a single day or incident of sorts. Three years back one of the rivers out at the cabin had a good return of kings and on a single afternoon I hooked and lost 8 fish in about 70 minute period. I had a couple of em dragged into about 4" of water before they came undone from the hook. So...........Bigger hooks right?

The returns all over South Central AK. and as far north as the Yukon River have been so poor that the king salmon season has been halted the past 2 years so I have had little opportunity to test my big hook idea out. The accidental fish last year was caught after the closure and there were a late group of kings that entered the river with the sockeye, that's how the catching happened.

I do suspect that the long irons add the 'leverage' problem to all the other ways that we can lose fish.

Ard
 
This post has been deleted
#14 ·
I agree. You can mortaly wound a redband with a smaller hook. It happens with trout fisherman more than we'd like to think. Same goes for the steelhead anglers that hold fish out of the water for extended periods because they are proud of their catch.
I did hook a redband through the eye (Have yet to repeat that incident with smaller hooks), and yes fishing is a "blood sport."
I personally enjoy fish and try to keep the blood to a minimum.
 
#12 ·
this is a great thread thnx for posting

I know Ny state has a Gape limit and i'm not sure currently what that is let alone if the length matters,but thats where all my steelheadingand salmon fishing is done. I have seen Fish Wardens measure hooks of others when they thought the fly was too big.
Frank Swarner will be able to clear this up if he sees this,and if he does please send me the current gape width and also if theres a length measurement as well.
Tight Wraps & Tighter Lines
Rick Wallace
 
#15 ·
1/2" max.

I know Ny state has a Gape limit and i'm not sure currently what that is let alone if the length matters,but thats where all my steelheadingand salmon fishing is done. I have seen Fish Wardens measure hooks of others when they thought the fly was too big.
Frank Swarner will be able to clear this up if he sees this,and if he does please send me the current gape width and also if theres a length measurement as well.
Tight Wraps & Tighter Lines
Rick Wallace
Nor more than 1/2" for Great Lakes tributaies in NY State...
 
#13 ·
There is nothing at all wrong with fishing 3/0 flies. For that don't know this, Glasso never tied nor fished with a spey fly larger than a 1/0 and used a #1 or #2 most of the time. Also, nearly all of his classic married wing flies were tied on #1 or #2 hooks as well.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top