On the left, the TMC206 BL. The Firehole Sticks 320 on the right
As we progress in fly fishing, many of us take up tying our own flies. There are hundreds, if not thousands of different patterns and variations to choose from. With all of the patterns comes all of the materials. Out of all the components that go into a fly, there’s one in particular that I’ve been experimenting with recently. Hooks.
How much of a role do the characteristics of a hook really play in hooking and landing fish? It seems a lot of it is very theoretical, but what characteristics really make a difference? This article isn’t written to go too far down that rabbit hole of information, but to share a little experiment I did in comparing two different hooks on the water.
I wanted to compare the TMC206 BL against the Firehole Sticks 320 to see if one would allow for better hook up rates. I tied a Griffith’s Gnat on a size 14 of each hook and hit the local creek to compare them
At the creek, there are two pools in particular where fish will regularly rise to the surface. I wanted to fish each hook in both pools, but wanted to give the pools a bit of time to rest in between. I started in the lower pool with the TMC gnat, and switched to the Firehole before moving to the upper pool. From there, I fished the lower pool with the Firehole gnat, and switched back to the TMC before moving back to the upper pool.
What I was looking for was the ratio of hook sets to strikes on each hook. This seemed to be the best way to gauge the difference between the two for this experiment. And to keep it consistent I wanted to have the same amount of strikes on each.
Out of 7 strikes on each hook, I was able to set the hook 5 times with the Firehole Sticks 320 and 3 times with the TMC206. Taking into account that I missed the hook set on several of the strikes on the TMC where the fly was taken under water and that were clearly felt in the rod, it was clear that the Firehole 320 offered a better hook up rate.
But taking the observation a bit further, I only landed 1 out of the 5 fish hooked on the Firehole hook. All 3 of the fish hooked on the TMC hook were brought to hand.
The one caught on the Firehole 320 Hook
So, while the larger gap and shorter point of the Firehole hook seemed to be easier to get into a trout’s mouth, it also meant it was more easily spit out as well. On the other side of it, the TMC hook seemed to hold trout a bit better once they were hooked.
Comparing the two hooks was a fun little experiment. But this was only one short session on the water, and these are just the observations from this one session. I would definitely like to do a little more on stream testing with these hooks to see if one hook really does seem to bring in more fish, especially with such a dynamic set of circumstances.
There are many variables that are too hard to account for. I couldn’t say what the size of every fish that took a chance at grabbing the fly was. I couldn’t tell you if they missed the fly because of an interruption in the drift, or if my missed hook sets were just human error. Maybe my approach to landing the fish wasn’t as good on the Firehole hooks as when I was able to land them on the TMC hooks. Fighting a fish isn’t consistent from fish to fish, there is a lot of movement and factors that come into play between the point where the hook is set to when the fish is in the net.
But, with all that being said, I encourage anyone who ties their own flies to try out different hooks on some of their favorite patterns from time to time. You may find a hook that better serves the way you fish that fly.