Best Hooks for Tying Small Flies

[Nymphmeister]

After posting on the thread "How To Tie Midges", it got me thinking about all the hook choices out there for tying #18 & smaller, and there are some damn good ones. The first questions you need to ask yourself are what size hook, do you want it straight or curved, and will you be fishing it on/in the surface or down deep. Also look at hook gap- wider ones are desirable on small flies as they hook & hold better. Straight eyes are considered desirable by many as the theory is that a down eye can decrease your usable hook gap on tiny hooks.

Straight Hooks:
-Tiemco 101, they make it all the way down to #26. It is a straight eye, wide gap, 1x fine "dry fly" hook that can be used for both surface and subsurface patterns.
-Tiemco 9300- nice strong hook with a down eye, 1x heavy wire, and a wide gap hook. It unfortunately is now only made down to #18, they used to make them down to #20. I still have some #20's in my hook collection, ha ha.
-Tiemco 100 SP-BL- similar to the 101, except with a down eye, a Super Point, and it's barbless. The Super Point is Tiemco's best hook point, goes in like a knife thru hot butter, and in this case its already barbless. This hook is their priciest dry fly type hook, but IMHO their best one. They only go down to a #20 in this one, they cannot do the Super Point smaller.
-Tiemco 518- the smallest of the small, this one is made only from #28-32. Specs are a "variable" wide gap & short shank, straight eye, 3x fine wire.
-Tiemco 508- not really familiar with this hook, but the 518 was a smaller spin off. Specs are 3x fine wire, "variable" wide gap/short shank, down eye, and made down to a #26. Has a longer point to help retain the fish on the hook.
-Tiemco 501- only made from #20-24, this is a 1x short shank, standard wire, straight eye hook. Designed to be a really strong Midge hook.

Curved Hooks:
-Tiemco 2488H- great hook for subsurface patterns & egg flies, it has a 2x short shank, straight eye, a super wide 3x wide gap, straight eye and 2x heavy wire. A great hook for tying small flies for really big trout, they make it from #12 down to #22. They used to do it in a #24, but they dropped that size.
-Tiemco 2488- similar to the 2488H, only with 2x fine wire instead, and they make it from (I think) a #10 all the way down to #30. Good for surface patterns, really thin fly bodies, or when you need to go really, really small.
-Tiemco 2457- the "Standard" of heavy wire scud hooks- 2x heavy, down eye, 2x short, 2x heavy wire. Nice hook, but they only make it down to #18
-Tiemco 2487- the light wire version of the 2457, this one is made down to a #24. It has the same specs as the 2457, only 2x fine wire instead of 2x heavy. This is good for surface emergers & pupa, and also for when you need to tie smaller.
-Tiemco 2499 SP-BL- this is the ultimate scud hook in my opinion, the only shortcoming is that they only go down to #18, but they may be coming out with a #20 soon. The specs are: straight eye, 2x heavy wire, 3x wide gap, 2x short shank, and a barbless Super Point. My hook-ups & landing seem to be noticeably higher using this hook. The barbless point is longer than normal & slight in-turned, almost a little like a circle hook, but nowhere near as extreme. This has become my scud hook of choice, they make it as big as #6.
-Tiemco 200- a longer shanked, slightly curved all-purpose hook. Specs are: straight eye, 3x long, standard wire hook, made down to #22 (they dropped the #24 size recently). A very graceful looking hook, I've often seen Disco Midges tied on it, and it is used to tie the thread-bodied "Yong Blood"- a very thin red midge larva pattern.

These are the hooks I'm familiar with, there are of course others, both from Tiemco and other hook makers. Here is a PDF file with all the Tiemco hooks on it & their specifications, as well as an illustration of what the hook looks like- they make some highly specialized hooks:
http://www.tiemco.co.jp/english/prod...flyhooks_e.pdf

[Flyfisher]

Some of you might not agree but i personally have had great luck with the Mustad 94840 standard dry fly hook on my smaller dries. At the smaller size they seem to have a better bite to the hook and for dries they are light and have served me well. Diachii also has some nice midge hooks and they are super sharp.

[Nymphmeister]

Curious what hooks are the favorite of other TPO members? DavyFly? Alain B? Aaron?

[alanb_ct]

Nymphmeister: your post is comprehensive and covers all that I know. I like the TMC 101 for the smaller nymphs, since the straight eye gives better clearance to the hook point. I also used the TMC 200R last year in the small sizes; it has a moderate continuous curve bend and makes a great looking nymph (baetis). I know that Dorsey uses this hook in his commercial small patterns. For size 18 nymphs, it is hard to beat the TMC 100SPBL or TMC2499SPBL - I love these hooks, but they are not available smaller.

[Nymphmeister]

Alain, I think Aaron has some 100 SP-BL in #20, but I could be wrong. I talked to Riley at Umpqua, and he said Tiemco may do the 2499 SP-BL in a #20 in the near future, but he wasn't positive. There is a limit to how small they can do the Super Point.

[kyle]

I use a lot of tiny dry flies and fine tippets, I often go down to #32 and 10X. But as far as hooks go I like the Tiemco 2488 because of the bent hook I find that the small flies tend to stay in the fishes mouth better. I also like them because when I'm tying flies on size 28-32 I only use thread for the bodies to keep the bulk down, and this super fine hook lets me do just that. This hook is useful for patterns such as tricos, olives, and needhami.

-kyle

[sholgate]

I know this is probably way too generic, but I am using a lot more scud type and circular type hooks. They just don't hang up as much, and many patterns can be tied to those hooks that are usually on straight hooks.

As far as brand, I live in West Lawn, PA, 8 blocks away from TCO fly shop, so I buy a lot of their brand to patronize them locally, and most of the trout have not complained.

Steve

[AaronJasper]

For small hooks I like the TMC 2499 spbl in the 18. For a straight shank hook I favor the 100 spbl in a 20. I also like to use the 2488 in a size 22-24 for some smaller flies. I like the thin wire and the point is sharp enough to penetrate deep enough to be effective when crimping down the barb. I like to make my Al's Trico on the 2488 size 24.

The funny thing is that we are looking for small barbless hooks and we can't find them. Maybe the reason why they don't make these hooks for competition is that they are un-necessary for most competitive venues. I might use smaller than a size 20 about 6 times a year.

[Adam]

mustads with the barbs pinched down have never failed me....and I am using a lot of a "big box" outfitters hooks because they are made in the same factory as one of the bigger names in hooks...same material.....same hook just being sold under a different private label. Again pinching down barbs.

[jovalle]

TMC 103BL are my go to dry and wet hooks. You have to know the proportions of the fly you are tying with this hook, as opposed to letting the hook dictate it to you, but the gap and curve is just perfect. up to size 21, but I have been known to through smaller hackles on the 21 for gnats etc to some success.