# Hooks for tarpon flies



## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

This time of year I'm spending a lot more time in the shop than on the water, filling orders of one kind or another. An angler on another forum asked about hooks for a tarpon trip and this was my reply...

I've used many different brands and styles of hooks for tarpon flies over the years. These days there are a lots of high quality hooks available. Before I mention a few brands/styles you might want to think a bit about the size of the fish you're working and how heavy your rod/tippet is going to be....

For smaller fish (under 20lbs) I find no need for premium hooks and generally tie with Mustad 34007's in sizes from 1/0 down to as small as #4 on occasion... Most often I'm using a #2 or a #1 hook. I prep the Mustads by sharpening, then almost flattening the barb on each hook. At that point they're ready to go. I've taken fish as large as 50lbs and a bit larger with these hooks mated to lighter rods (usually a 7 up to a 9wt). Many times with smaller fish we're only using straight 20lb fluoro leader with no shock tippet at all...

For medium sized fish (30 up to about 80lbs) I'm using premium hooks, generally Owner Aki in 1/0 up to 3/0, Tiemco 600sp, Gamakatsu, Varivas, and others.... (the old Mustad 3407, 3407SS, and the #7766 are also favorites - though a bit old fashioned for most...). I set these up on 8 to 10wt rods, with the 10wt my first choice when I know the fish are going to be above 40lbs

(many times you just have to go with what's in your hand when working backcountry fish in dark waters, you'll never have time to change to a heavier rod when you first see the fish within 30 to 40 feet of your skiff...). 

For medium sized fish I want extra strong hooks to go with 20lb tippets, and bite tippets in the 40 to 60lb range. You can easily bend out or break lighter hooks with this kind of a leader so ordinary hooks aren't on the menu for my anglers....

For the bigger fish (all the way up to as big as they get...) I'm still using the same hooks that I do for the mediums, wanting to use a 4/0 but many times forced to use smaller with spooky fish (rods are at least an 11wt for the bigger fish, usually a 12..). The only thing that changes is the shock tippet. My standard is 80lb fluoro, I'd like to use heavier but can rarely get away with it. Much more often we're forced to use a lighter shock tippet than I want just to get the fish to bite in clear water. Down in the Keys that's a very normal proposition for heavily pressured fish. A light shock tippet (at times as light as 40lb) and a very long leader may be needed to get any bites at all down there.... but that's another story...

The only time I consistently use larger hooks is when dredging in deeper, darker waters for fish holding like salmon in 'Glades rivers that drain into the Gulf coast. In those circumstances I go with a 4/0 Owner Aki, or Tiemco 600sp as a minimum hook size... The flies start in the six inches long size and may go all the way up to about 8" overall. No worries at all about leader or tippet sizes when dredging. I still try to stick with a 20lb breaking strength for my leaders though... If you go heavier it can easily be your fly line that breaks before your leader (ask me how I know) since fly line is only 30lb in strength..

Hope this helps, by the way I've never found any need whatsoever for circle hooks when tying flies. I love circles with bait but that's it.
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## dacuban1 (Sep 9, 2008)

Thx for the info Capt. You always have a good write up. Whats the baby tarpon report like back there right now? Thx again


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

The babies in the interior out of Flamingo should be solid. The babies in Biscayne Bay (for nightfishing) are solid. The remainder of this week the tides are just right for night trips, locally. I'll be at Flamingo on Thursday so I should know what's up there by the end of the week.


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## freeflyfree (May 12, 2010)

> Hope this helps, by the way I've never found any need whatsoever for circle hooks when tying flies. I love circles with bait but that's it.


*

Thanks capt. for bringing this up, I was going to start tying (as soon as I buy my vise) my first tarpon fly on circle hooks, only because of this sentence in Norm Zeigler's "Snook on a Fly" "page 57 bottom paragraph) refering about the Norm's Crystal Minow:


QUOTE
" When tied on a circle hook, it results in a dramatic jump in the number of baby tarpon hooked and landed, but a J hook is just as effective for snook"

http://books.google.com/books?id=KZ...nepage&q=norm's schminnow circle hook&f=false

I always wondered why a circle hook could improve the chances of keeping a tarpon hooked, do you guys know?


Felipe.*


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## deerfly (Mar 10, 2007)

nice summary Bob.



> I always wondered why a circle hook could improve the chances of keeping a tarpon hooked, do you guys know?
> 
> Felipe.


Same reason they work so well when bait fishing. Once they're set the point of the hook extending into the throat towards the shank makes them more difficult to dislodge over a typical j-hook. Less leverage to work the point back out from the eye end. Just de-hooking a fish by hand caught with a circle hook makes that more apparent. 

Can't speak much about that book because I haven't read it and with all things of that sort, you have to take them with a grain of salt. That said, flies and circle hooks have been discussed around here a time or two over the years as well. I'm sure a search would dig out most of it.

I'll reiterate my take after messing around with them a little. This was probably 3 or so years ago. One test was using light wire circle hooks (1/0 I think) and they seemed to do fine on small tarpon, snook and lady fish. Btw- this was down in Flamingo. The problem with these sorts of things though is I didn't alternate between hook types and even if I had, considering the multitude of things that go into getting a hook set and not loosing a fish until it's boat side make it  nearly impossible to say I would have done better or worse with either hook style. One would need to be really diligent over a longer period of time or be in the fish thick using both style hooks to really draw any conclusions. I also tried them in 4/0 on large tarpon but wasn't able to hook up while using them. Had a couple short strikes, but that was it. Maybe it was just sloppy casting but the circle hook flies seemed to foul easier to me too.

Generally though, I agree with Bob in that they don't offer enough compelling reasons to use in the fly realm. Bait fishing is another story tho, especially with kids and/or inexperienced anglers. I've literally thrown all my j-hook and short shank bait hooks away in favor of circles. 

This season I ran out of my stock of Tiemco 800SP tarpon hooks and tried the Owner Aki and Gamakatsu SC17. So far I'm1/1 with the SC17 and 0/2 on the AKI. As I alluded to above, nothing conclusive here, but I like the short shank style better anyway. I plan to pick up some SC15's to try and IMHO think they would be a better choice for small tarpon (or snook) over a circle hook. I'm also liking these Mustads & Tiemco 800S's too. As you can see they are not light wire but I haven't had any trouble setting them using tippets as light as 10lb test. They are very sharp out of the box and definitely strong.


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