08-24-2003, 09:35 PM
exerpts from " streamside " on the fly tying forum . HOOKS .
[#808000]I love the Eagle Claw Hooks, especially the new nickel teflon coated hooks. They are so smooth, sharp and slippery, that you have a hard time fixing them to your line with out ending up with a hook in your finger and the points are so sharp they will cut you like a surgeon's scalpel. Eagle Claw has definitely taken hook manufacturing to a whole new level. They are hard to sharpen though. Most of the more expensive hooks today are very hard tempered steel and are chemically or lazer sharpened, and are surgically sharp from the factory, but this does not last long once they start bouncing off rocks and things. Eagle Claw hooks are harder than most, but they too need constant sharpening if you are fishing rocky bottoms. In the words of my friend Ian James a renown Canadian fly fisherman and author" Dull hooks don't catch fish! Get the point?"[/#808000][size 2]
[/size][#808000][size 3][size 2]A hone or wet stone will just round them off. What you need is a diamond dust sharpening rod. The kind with a hook grove. They cost about $10.00 Gerber makes a great one shaped like a pen that clips to your pocket. They are the best hook sharpener on the market. You will have no problem sharpening Eagle Claw or any other brand of hook. Always sharpen by stroking the sharpener away toward the point of the hook, never drawing the hook against the sharpener. One or two strokes is usually enough to re-sharpen any hook, unless the point is bent. If it's bent just through it out. It's not worth messin with and it could cost you a fish.[/size][/size][size 1] [/size]
[#808000][size 3]If you are spawn bagging for steelies, you are best to snell your hooks. Go back to that page I sent you to with the Uni- Knot. There is a Uni-Snell at the bottom of the page, use that, it's a very good knot. You will get much better more direct hook sets if you snell your steelhead hooks for bagging. Circle hooks are a great invention and can be used for bagging. Because they are turned so far in, that the points do not come in contact with obsticles and do not snag, therefor they stay sharp almost all the time, but you cannot snell them because in order for the design to work, the hook must be able to turn and work it's way to the corner inside a fishes mouth. You also cannot set the hook or you will just pull it right back out of the fishes mouth. Even if they swallow the hook right down their gullet, you will just pull it right back out. You have to let the fish make the set. Once you get used to that circle hooks are fantastic for spawn bagging steelies.
For small jacks and resident rainbows and browns, I also like to use egg hooks size # 6 to # 8, Preferably Eagle Claw NT or Lindy Blood Red. Lindy also makes a snagless egg hook, for those structured hard to fish areas like at that dam you spoke of with all the cinder blocks and snag lines. For larger hens, I like to use the larger Eagle Claw NT egg cluster hooks size # 2[/size][/#808000][/#808000][size 1] . [/size]
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[#808000]I love the Eagle Claw Hooks, especially the new nickel teflon coated hooks. They are so smooth, sharp and slippery, that you have a hard time fixing them to your line with out ending up with a hook in your finger and the points are so sharp they will cut you like a surgeon's scalpel. Eagle Claw has definitely taken hook manufacturing to a whole new level. They are hard to sharpen though. Most of the more expensive hooks today are very hard tempered steel and are chemically or lazer sharpened, and are surgically sharp from the factory, but this does not last long once they start bouncing off rocks and things. Eagle Claw hooks are harder than most, but they too need constant sharpening if you are fishing rocky bottoms. In the words of my friend Ian James a renown Canadian fly fisherman and author" Dull hooks don't catch fish! Get the point?"[/#808000][size 2]
[/size][#808000][size 3][size 2]A hone or wet stone will just round them off. What you need is a diamond dust sharpening rod. The kind with a hook grove. They cost about $10.00 Gerber makes a great one shaped like a pen that clips to your pocket. They are the best hook sharpener on the market. You will have no problem sharpening Eagle Claw or any other brand of hook. Always sharpen by stroking the sharpener away toward the point of the hook, never drawing the hook against the sharpener. One or two strokes is usually enough to re-sharpen any hook, unless the point is bent. If it's bent just through it out. It's not worth messin with and it could cost you a fish.[/size][/size][size 1] [/size]
[#808000][size 3]If you are spawn bagging for steelies, you are best to snell your hooks. Go back to that page I sent you to with the Uni- Knot. There is a Uni-Snell at the bottom of the page, use that, it's a very good knot. You will get much better more direct hook sets if you snell your steelhead hooks for bagging. Circle hooks are a great invention and can be used for bagging. Because they are turned so far in, that the points do not come in contact with obsticles and do not snag, therefor they stay sharp almost all the time, but you cannot snell them because in order for the design to work, the hook must be able to turn and work it's way to the corner inside a fishes mouth. You also cannot set the hook or you will just pull it right back out of the fishes mouth. Even if they swallow the hook right down their gullet, you will just pull it right back out. You have to let the fish make the set. Once you get used to that circle hooks are fantastic for spawn bagging steelies.
For small jacks and resident rainbows and browns, I also like to use egg hooks size # 6 to # 8, Preferably Eagle Claw NT or Lindy Blood Red. Lindy also makes a snagless egg hook, for those structured hard to fish areas like at that dam you spoke of with all the cinder blocks and snag lines. For larger hens, I like to use the larger Eagle Claw NT egg cluster hooks size # 2[/size][/#808000][/#808000][size 1] . [/size]
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