Vaal River Update

[Herman Jooste]

My hoeke is klaar swaar,wat nou???

G

Bestel nog , duhhh,

[Gerrit Viljoen]

Bestel nog , duhhh,

He he,already did last week,just poking fun at my Czechiese cronie.

G

[Byron]

I've had plenty of Grip Hooks break/snap and I quite happily advise people not to use them for yellows on the Vaal or on a tippet of more than 6lbs. I use the ones I have left over for trout flies.

I had my first Gamakatsu break two weeks ago but since I've been using them this is a first. They do tend to bend open slightly but this takes a lot of work on rocks and trees and if you close the gape they still perform fine - although the will weaken if you keep working them open and closed. I think it's fair to say that they can only do so much before ones expectations get unreasonable.

But for me Grip Hooks and Vaal don't go in the same sentence.

[Dieter]

After reading all the comments on the Grip hooks it seems that there is a real problem with them. And I have quite a few packs, (money well spent.. Not) If Ican recall that on average I had 3-4 hooks broken on every Vaal excursion..

Thanks for all the comments guys I'll definately have to invest in a more reliable brand(s)..

Cheers

[Shamwari]

After reading all the comments on the Grip hooks it seems that there is a real problem with them. And I have quite a few packs, (money well spent.. Not) If Ican recall that on average I had 3-4 hooks broken on every Vaal excursion..

Thanks for all the comments guys I'll definately have to invest in a more reliable brand(s)..

Cheers

Wow!

Thanks for the heads up, these hooks are all I have been buying

[GrahamS]

Wow!

Thanks for the heads up, these hooks are all I have been buying

I lucklily used all mine up, but to be fair, I have never had an issue with them breaking. I suspect that over-tightening the vice when tying could lead to hood failures. Especially the narrow-jaw vices.

This weekend I found a little honey pot selling Mustad and VMC hooks for R20 for 25 hooks. And they had all the sizes and styles I needed, so I stocked up.

Needless to say, they now have to order more stock!

[Dieter]

Hi Graham,

I usually take care not to over tighten the vice jaws.. Lucky find on those hooks..
Let us how they perform especially the vmc's..

[smallstreams.co.za]

Hi Graham,

I usually take care not to over tighten the vice jaws.. Lucky find on those hooks..
Let us how they perform especially the vmc's..

Good quality hooks should not break if you tighten the jaws on them - I'm sorry. If you use the exact same pressure on the other brands mentioned here, they would not fail as easily as the Grips.

[Byron]

Good quality hooks should not break if you tighten the jaws on them - I'm sorry. If you use the exact same pressure on the other brands mentioned here, they would not fail as easily as the Grips.

Agreed,

I can't see how this would make a difference - anyway the jaws on my vice are soft so if you overtighten it you stuff the vice up. You don't actually need a lot of pressure to hold the hook.

[Herman Jooste]

For those of us who were housebound who fished this weekend, and what did you catch?????