Mustad 36890?

[Les Kish]

Any opinions on this hook for tying steelhead flies? I see that the hook eye is not tapered, but that shouldn't matter when tying dumb bell or conehead type flies.

[Ron Eagle Elk]

Les,

Used them for years. Just make sure you have a hook sharpener with you if your on the bottom as they dull pretty easy.

REE

[Les Kish]

Ron:

Thanks, the barbs are a bugger to flatten too. I've tried smashing them with pliers, and then filing them. They do seem to sharpen ok.

Les

[TrappedinCO]

I've used them for awhile, too. They aren't as pretty or refined as some steelhead hooks, but the fish don't seem to care. I use them a lot for big ugly salmon flies - bunny leaches, etc. They definitely need to be sharpened often, but they work fine and the price is right.

[Philster]

I pretty much reserved them for bass flies I expected to lose alot. For steelie flies i'd use a tiemco 200R anyday over the mustad... Just my preference.

[FT]

If you are looking for an OK hook for salmon and steelhead flies and low price is important, the Mustad 36890 will work. However, it has a large barb, dulls easily (as others have mentioned) and the smaller sizes will straighten when you put the wood to fish.

The eye return is not tapered and is also fairly short making finishing the fly with a nice head difficult. And their always seems to be several malformed hooks in a box of 100.

Personally, I've not used this hook since 1991. I've been using Daiichi's 2441 since 1991 exclusively in heavy salmon/steelhead irons because they are very well formed, very sharp, hold their sharpness well, don't bend anywhere near as easily as the Mustad 36890, and have very nicely tapered hook eye returns. The Tiempco 7999 and Targus 7999 are two other well-made, quality heavy salmon/steelhead irons.

But like said in the beginning of this post, if low price is important to you, the Mustad 36890 is an OK that will work if you don't mind its shortcomings.

[speyfisher]

Works fine on flies with a stinger hook. Cut the mustad hook at the bend and all those compliants go away. :beer1:

[kodiaksalmon]

Works fine on flies with a stinger hook. Cut the mustad hook at the bend and all those compliants go away. :beer1:

iagree

This is how I use them as well.