Learn how to use hooks for fly tying and other fly fishing tips in this free instructional video.
Alvin has been a fly fishing guide and casting instructor for 12 years, and has been fly fishing for 32 years. He is a graduate of the first Joan Wulff fly-casting instructor's school, and has fished all over the western United States, Canada, Belize, Argentina, Chile and Honduras.
ALVIN DEDEUX: The next tying material is going to be our hooks. And the hooks come in all kinds of different sizes and shapes from fairly large hooks for big bass or saltwater fish down to some really tiny hooks. Can you see that--those hooks there? And we tie flys on all of them. Your saltwater hooks are usually going to be stainless steel, something like that, that won't rust. Most of your freshwater hooks will not be stainless. Occasionally, they'll be nickel plated to make them last a little bit longer. They'll come in--you can get hooks that have been painted black. Make them a little bit stealthier. They don't really make very many barbless hooks. Most of the hooks will still have the barbs attached. So if you want to fish without the barb, then you'll have to clip the barb off yourself. They'll also come in different thicknesses of wire like the sinking hooks will typically have a heavier wire to them. And for the same-sized hook, a hook for floating fly will be made with a much thinner wire so that that wire doesn't make the hook sink. You'll have the bent-down eye on some hooks, and then other hooks will have the straight eye just depending on what type of fly you're tying, what type of fish you're trying to catch. There's a hook for every occasion.
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