accessories

[looseknot]

Ever had really bad hooks? my day on the water cost me at least 5 good size fish due to hooks(Grip size 12 emerger and caddis) breaking. i have also had a problem with mustard circle hooks bending open. fishing a 3kg line i would imagine the line would have to go first if im pulling to hard. my drag is good my rod is doing plenty of the work like it should. what do you guys use and do you also have a problem?

[Scythe]

You don't list the whole ramble of specifications of the hooks, though I find it hard to believe that a Mustad Circle would bend open, unless you're fishing the smaller sizes from #12 upwards.

If you're breaking hooks, ie: snapping them off at the bend then you've got hooks that weren't tempered properly. This does happen, not much you can do about it really but to finish the packet as fast as you can/.

Always look for the XH, HW, 2XH, 3XH markings on the hook packets otherwise you're buying the light wire trout variant of the hook, which will not work for a sized YellowFish. The labelling differs from brand to brand, but you want to buy the HEAVY WIRE or DOUBLE (2X) HEAVY WIRE variants of all your hooks aside from possibly the ones you use for dry fly.

Something else to experiment with is tying the same patterns on Tiemco hooks and fishing both equally, they're usually stronger than Grip in my experience and I am no longer buying Grip hooks having standardized on TMC for my Nymphs and Caddis, not only for the strength but also due to the size of the gape being much larger than on the Grip.

[dizzy]

Scythe, do you know who sells Tiemco hooks? Any fishing store?

[ShaunF]

Scythe, do you know who sells Tiemco hooks? Any fishing store?

Frontier Flyfishing stocks them.

[Scythe]

Most fly fishing/fishing shops will ?

[FIGJAM]

Just get a "GRIP" guys

[dizzy]

Thanks!

[GGY]

Just get a "GRIP" guys

Here I disagree.

While Grip does make a heavy wire caddis, I have had problems with the tempering of these and had them break.
I prefer Tiemco or Blue Water (#18 heavy caddis is stronger than the TMC).

Gary.

[jock0]

Scythe, do you know who sells Tiemco hooks? Any fishing store?

Mia's in woodmead had a very good selection 2 months ago when i was there, try giving them a call. The tiemco's seemed to be almost double the price of the equivalent grips IIRC.

I fish very heavy tackle on the vaal and while i might get fewer takes than most guys i dont have to worry as much about bullying fish and losing fish to poor hooks/line/knots with the end result being i land more fish in the end. Using 12lb 0.32 berkley vanish or 14lb 0.34 pline as tippet i have yet to open a #6 or # 8 mustad circle hook... I have opened a #10 twice in the last two months though, but have simply bent it closed again and carried on using it (lazy i know)

If you still have quite a few of the mustads left why not get in touch with the agents and see if they are not possibly a bum batch?

[Nymph+O-]

Grip hooks suck big time, this inferior quality product let me down more then once and I will never use this K@K product ever again. The main problem seems to be that they are over tempered and thus break and I have also found a batch of hooks that opened up on light tippet during a fight. This product is way too inconsistent to be used by any serious fisherman.

TMC is definitely the way to go even though it is more expensive it is worth the extra money. Once you start to buy around you stop ****ing around....