Trailing hook

[briansflyfishing]

I need advice on how to add a trailing hook to a fly.
What knots etc or method to secure said hook onto the fly hook.

Anyone done this or know of a link that I can investigate the possibility?

Cheers
Brian

[Kevin James]

Mate, what are you planning on fishing?

For a lot of the tube flies I tie up and have fished I use wire for the hook set.
That's salt water.

It may be different for you - salmon for example in Norway.

Bit more info might help and hopefully we can get you sorted out.

[briansflyfishing]

I am targeting Garrick.
I have tied up a larger minnow pattern that I usually use and have weighted it, thus the tail is a lot longer and I don't want any misses due to the long tail.
I have never tried tube flies or adding trailing hooks.
I fish with a 9 weight intermediate set up.

The idea is to get the fly deeper down.

What would you suggest.

Thanks
Brian

[MCC]

Hi Brian

A couple of random comments:

Adding an additional hook for a nine weight setup might be pushing the tackle a bit too far. The additional weight will probably cause some casting and/or distance issues for you.

Leeries will generally keep on hitting a fly until they get hooked but in some instances (like when you fish a distinct dropoff) they will only make one serious attempt at eating the fly. So, by having the hook in the head of the fly you will generally get the hookup. All of my friends fish with a single hook in the head of the fly and they don't have any issues.

Leeries eat the fly from the side and this is what sometimes causes a problem. They will grab the fly just behind the hook & head so that you simply strip the fly out of the fish's mouth.

A number of years ago we were fishing in Angola for Leeries but we found that we were missing a lot of the bigger fish because of poor hook-ups or missed takes. Soooooo...... we added a trailing hook by simply tying a short piece of 40lbs mono onto the bend of the front hook (5/0) and then a trailing hook (4/0) onto the other end of the mono. We placed this trailing hook right at the end of the tailing material to avoid tangles. Well, it worked like a charm and we didn't miss another fish.

There you have it. Decide whether the additional hook is worth the effort in terms of rigging, tangles and loss of casting distance :-)

Cheers
MC

[briansflyfishing]

Thanks for that.
this is purely experimental. It really is about not missing a potential fish. I tied the fly much larger then before, thus a longer tail. And I thought let me add the trailing hook before I get misses because of the longer tail.
I thought I would have casting worries, but to be honest after a couple of cast you sort of get used to the extra weight and with a decent double haul it just travels.
On the first try this afternoon I got hit by 2 Leeries. They hit the fly and buggered off. I now hope that the trailing hook did not put them off.

[Kevin James]

You have the choice of using wire or nylon to attach the hooks.
In this instance based on MCC's post, I'd also be inclined to use mono.
It is also a bit more supple and not as rigid as the wire which I think might be beneficial.

Some guys use nylon coated wire, but from personal experience saltwater gets under the coating and rusts it over time. You don't always notice this as it usually sits right at the start of where the material is tied down.
It's a good way, but just be aware of the shortcomings.

Based on the pattern you are tying, you can either add a hook to a loop and tie this loop into your original start of the tie in.
You need to make sure it is well tied down and it may require some bonding agent.
The other alternative is to whip a hook onto a piece of nylon and do the same for the other end under the material. These will be permanently attached.

http://www.netknots.com/rope_knots/common-whipping

Having said all this, the idea of just adding a stinger hook by tying a short loop to the other seems like a great idea. You can always lengthen, shorten or simply remove when you're finished.

Good luck mate, hope you pin a good one.

[briansflyfishing]

Thank you MCC and Dogtooth- Valuable info indeed. I did use the whipping knot to secure the mono to the hook shank, gooid a bit of Knot sense on it after going ove it with tying thread a bunch of time. Gave it a hell of a pull a couple of time to make sure it does not slip.
I believe it will work. Again thanks for the info guys.
I tried to post a pic of the fly, but there seems to be a problem with up loading.

[GGY]

Based on the pattern you are tying, you can either add a hook to a loop and tie this loop into your original start of the tie in.
You need to make sure it is well tied down and it may require some bonding agent.

I like this idea - since you could add/remove the stinger (tied onto mono, with a loop as indicated), as required.
Clever.