Dee flies for your enjoyment

[davpot]

Attached are some Dee flies I thought the board might like to see. Antiques. Wish I could find hooks like that! :confused:

[Randy Diefert]

Very nice, Thanks for sharing them. Have you got any idea as to how old they are?
Randy

[Ron Eagle Elk]

Gotta agree with Randy. Very nice. Do you have any information on who tied them or the age of the flies.

For hooks, have you tried Ronn Lucas, I know he makes some hooks or modifies them for the flies he does.

REE

[davpot]

:mad: I really have no idea how old they are, but the box they came in was a Hardy hook-protector clip box from the 30s. So I assume the flies could have come from the late 1800s to the 1930s. My feeling is the 20s or so. hard to tell as the nice hooks were available with gut eyes into the 30s. Now these Spey flies are from the the 1870s: ;)

[Randy Diefert]

Very nice...

[wet line]

Very nice indeed!

It almost makes one want to go out and collect a heron.

The more I learn about Spey and Dee flies the more fascinated I become with them and seeing some of the old really is a treat!

Dave

[Stephen Rice]

Attached are some Dee flies I thought the board might like to see. Antiques. Wish I could find hooks like that! :confused:


You can still get hooks like that Daiichi makes them. the pack I have is #2091 and there called the "Alec Jackson Blind-eye Hook". I have used them before with good success. John Shewey's book on tying Speys and Dee flies shows you how to tie the loop for the eye. It's pretty simple to do.

[davpot]

Hi Randy:
Yes, those are some nice hooks. However, they dont (IMHO) compare in gauge or style with the originals. Anexample is the barbs on these are guttered: a hand operation which improves the look and style. That said: the Jackson hooks are a nice choice and give lots of room to tie...they are LONG...!
Dave;)

[halcyon]

A similar modern hook is the Partridge Heritage Long Shank Blind Eye Bartleet hook. No exactly the same as the ones in the image but IMHO far superior to the AJ Japanese hooks. But then I actually fish those hooks with blind eyes of 30# braided dacron.

Regards,

[Don Johnson]

Try Castle Arms: http://www.castlearms.com/hooks.html.

Just out of curiosity, what makes the Partridge "far superior"?

[FT]

If you want the most beautiful blind eye hooks for classic flies like dees, speys, and featherwing atlantic salmon flies, Ron Reinhold produces them. However, they are not cheap running from $5.00/hook up to about $25.00/hook. But my they are nice and he has many of the old hooks (such as those the flies in the photo are tied on) reproduced. Just be ready and willing to pay for his exquisite hooks.

[davpot]

Hi FT: I agree that Reinhold hooks are the best, but if 5.00-up sounds a little steep for your taste and you dont tie over 3/0, some of the "old" mustad 80500BL hooks are very nice to tie on and really have that antique barb/point conjunction! How they did it...I cant say. But they look GREAT! These hooks are no longer made, but Ebay has them from time to time. Reinhold didnt even have any "seconds" to buy!
Davebawling:

[Tim Cottage]

Reinhold has stopped offering seconds. I don't know why. They were a great option. Now that they are no longer available, what's a guy supposed to do to fill the void.

TC

[FT]

Dave,

I miss the Reinhold seconds too because they made for very nice fishing hooks. I also agree the Mustad 80500BL is a very nicely shaped, longer shank salmon hook made of good, well tempered steel. I never cared for its short hook return and would have prefered a smaller wire diameter; but these are really very minor things. Besides the hook return of the hook's loop eye doesn't matter because if one cuts the loop eyes off and uses them as blind eye hooks, the hook return length is a non-issue. It was never easy to find them in shops though and I suspect that was a factor in Mustad discontinuing this model.

Belvoirdale offers a pretty nice long shank blind eye dee hook at a reasonable price. They are made in the UK.