Yasuhiro Ogasawara is one of the great hookmakers of this time: the profile, bend and barb are all excellent craftmanship. But if you show a range of hooks to anyone it is the gold-leafs on the hook that most people will recognize and immediately associate with Yasuhiro.
A while back Yasuhiro started a Green Highlander project where he ships out two hooks: one for the tyer to tie a GH on, and one for the tyer to keep. I received mine a while back and a few weeks back I finally got the time to sit down and do this GH. I chose to do a rather “fat” version of the GH here – with long body hackle and well picked-out sealsfur in the body. The hook is rather stout, and the dimensions just lent itself to make a fly with a bit more substance in it.
Quite happy with this one: the flow and materials sits in place nicely, the sides are in correct position and I did find toppings that matched. Wished I had a bit better curve on the wing, but that will be for next time.