Small flies have small hooks, which can make it harder to connect with fish.
Image courtesy Tightline Productions
In winter, most anglers fish some of the smallest patterns of the year: midges, tiny olives, and downsized nymphs. A small fly must be tied on a small hook, which often means you lose more fish right off the bar because you don’t get a good hook set. You’ll also have a lower hook-up rate than you would with a size 12 fly, but here are a few things you can do to swing the odds a bit more in your favor.
1. Use a hook with a wide gap and a straight eye. The small gap on some hooks means that the body materials can get in the way. If the hook point never gets to the fish’s mouth, your chances of success are near zero. When you’re choosing hooks for patterns smaller than size 16, and especially for those 22s and 24s, consider the gap size. The straight eye also clears the gap even further.
2. Use a slightly longer hook shank. If you’re using tiny Soft Hackles or wet flies, try a hook with a longer shank to ensure that the hook point is unimpeded. (As you’ll see in the comments, some anglers like to offset the hook point slightly; others think that bending the small wire weakens it. Your call.)
3. Tie sparse flies. Given numbers 1 and 2 above, it makes sense to tie patterns that have slim bodies and not a lot of hackle or other winging material interfering with the hook point.
4. Fish upstream as much as possible. When you’re using such a small hook, it’s very easy to yank it out of a fish’s mouth if the fish is downstream of you. For dries and nymphs, fish upstream. For wet flies, try to drift and swing the fly at as sharp an angle as possible, so you’re not pulling the fly directly away from the fish.
5. Set the hook to the side or downstream. To help with the problem described in #4, think about the direction of your hook set. Instead of throwing your rod tip to the sky when you get a hit, keep it low and sweep the tip to your downstream side, if possible. They, of course, is to do this as gently as possible, since you’re probably using 6X or smaller and you don’t want to pull the fly out of the fish.
and use straight eye hooks! Noticed your photo showed straight eyes, but you didn’t mention it. I have tried up-eye, down-eye and straight-eye and straight-eye on #20 and smaller have far better hook-up results.
Did you read point #1 (in bold)?
Look at the date of Perk’s comment. I stole it from him, not the other way around.
Does he have a time machine? How did he ask the question 4 before the story came out?
Because posts fall off the front page so quickly, we often repost them at a later date. That way, folks that missed them the first time get a chance to read them. Of course, we only do this with posts that we think are really valuable.
I agree with the five points made here. There is one more method that I have found to be helpful in setting the hook on those tiny flies, and that is to slightly off-set the hook point a few degrees with my hemostat, meaning I simply bend the point of the hook away from the line or plane of the hook shank. I doesn’t take much, but I am convinces it improves your edge is having that hook point make a solid connection.
I routinely offset the point of the hook on a small fly so it lies at about 25 to 30 degrees off from the shaft.
It is best to bend the shaft of the hook where the fly dressing ends or where it will end.
I find it better to do this before tying the fly in case the hook breaks when you bend it – but if you do not tie your flies the gain in hook-ups is worth the risk (cost) of off-setting.
The only negative I have found it that off-setting the point can make flies spin when downstream fishing.
X2
I agree, Tony. I tie my small flies the same way as you do, with a slightly off-set hook point (bent before tying), and a straight-eye hook. This has worked well for me me for years, and has increased my hook-up rate substantially.
x 2 for offsetting the hook point – when tying your fly or at the streamside if straight hook point not connecting