Flyfishing, flytying and hooks

Blacker: Shannon number 12

A version of Shannon number 12 from William Blacker, tied in hand on a Lars Møller #4/0 2xl hook.

This year will be a lot about Blacker: a 3-book edition about his life and tying will be published in the not-too-distant-future. Starting up the tying season with some more tying in hand, and exploring the wing and thoughts from Blacker when it comes to flydesign.

flyhooks.org – 66 new hooks

A batch of 66 new hook images have been added to flyhooks.org today

So: some new brands and a good lot of hooks added today. Up next is a good batch of TMC ready for photography, then more Allcock, Mustad and some interesting Japanese hooks after that.

flyhooks.org – Midgar

Todays update on flyhooks.org: new hooks and pictures from the Midgar flyhook range. Midgar is a Norwegian based (located in Hvaler) flyfishing/flytying company, they have a short range of hooks that are focused around scandinavian saltwater patterns. All have microbarb and have a really solid build that makes you trust them for big fish even on smaller sizes.

The hooks are new of this year so I haven’t had much time to tie on them (or fish with them  yet), but the M2010 streamer and M2020 are two that stand out for me in the range: the M2020 have a deeper bend than I’ve seen before and should be interesting to tie up on.

flyhooks.org – Ahrex

Todays update on flyhooks.org comes from Ahrex hooks: earlier this year they sent me samples of all their hooks for addition to the flyhooks database. The update brings a total of 23 hooks from Ahrex to the site: the doubles and trebles are missing, but they will be added later.

From a start with hooks focusing on saltwater here in Scandinavia, they now have a range of hooks:

  • NS – Nordic Salt: baitfish, gammarus, shrimp
  • HR – Home Run: salmon, tube, trailer, doubles & trebles
  • TP – Trout Predator: for the big trout streamers
  • PR – Predator: pike and large predator fish

I welcome the addition of more barbless as they now have both predator, stinger and tube barbless in their lineup.

A couple of highlights for me in what I use: the NS110 for saltwater patterns, HR430 barbless tube that have a really solid build quality even in the smaller sizes, the heavy HR414 for salmon patterns and TP610 & TP650 for the larger trout streamers.

This brings the total of hooks with images to a total of 705, I would still love to get my hands on more Ahrex: if you have hooks in the sizes I’m missing, please send me a message!