hook substitution

[Allison]

I have a ton of different hooks that I bought as part of a lot of tying stuff at an auction. Many of them are not exactly what the recipes are calling for. I am pulling a picture of the hook that's called for off the Net, printing it out, and using the hook that best matches the shape of the hook in the recipe. Sometimes they are a *slightly* different shape, but the eye is always pointed in the same direction as what's asked for. Is that gonna work? How critical is using the right hook?

Thanks.:D

[Brian Thomas]

I think most hook suggestions are just starting points . It never hurts to experiment , within reason . If a recipe calls for a #10 2xl hook , and I only have #10`s in 3xl , or 1xl , I won`t worry about it . Another way to achieve the same size hook as the #10 2xl , would be to use either a #8 1xl , or a #12 3xl .

Here is a hook comparison chart for reference .

http://www.killroys.com/hooks/hookchrt.htm

[traditionalist]

I have a ton of different hooks that I bought as part of a lot of tying stuff at an auction. Many of them are not exactly what the recipes are calling for. I am pulling a picture of the hook that's called for off the Net, printing it out, and using the hook that best matches the shape of the hook in the recipe. Sometimes they are a *slightly* different shape, but the eye is always pointed in the same direction as what's asked for. Is that gonna work? How critical is using the right hook?

Thanks.:D

For the vast majority of patterns it makes no difference what hook you use. Certain "shaped" hooks for scuds and the like, make the patterns more attractive to angler´s eyes, but it does not usually make much difference to the fish. Some patterns like "Klinkhammers" require specific hooks in order to function correctly, but most patterns don´t.

As long as you use a hook which generally suits the pattern, not too heavy for dry flies, for instance, not too long, etc, the actual hook pattern is invariably immaterial.