hooks

[loch coulter]

just been given a mixture of captain hamilton hooks which look the business, among them are nymph hooks, code h1a size 16, they have a very long shank to my eyes! any suggestions on what type of fly these would be suitable for?

[Fishtales]

Nymphs?

The size is the gape size so they will be long shank 16's and probably ?light wire? They should be suitable for any lightly tied nymph pattern e.g pheasant tail, clyde/tummel style spiders or even a dry fly.

[Fishtales]

I use #12 and #14 LS hooks for my floating nymphs with no problems Andy, and George uses a #10 LS for a big bushy dry fly he uses and he doesn't have any problems either. Everybody's experiences differ though and it is probably because we tend to only catch smallish fish, although George did have one of 3 Lb+ on his dry fly last year

[loch coulter]

thanks for the info guys.

                                         Tommy.

[Lochan_load]

Some people (I think Fred does this) tie bushier dry flies short on a long shank hook to try and improve hook ups, basically keeping the bulk away from the gape.
I like a LS hook but usually in bigger sizes for streamers and lures on the odd occasion I go for stockies (shhh) and never experienced any problems with hook ups, dropping fish. Maybe down to individual error andy!  :worried