Russian River hooks

[jmg]

I was down at the Russian today and think I finally have the proper "technique" down for catching reds. I worked them with a 7 wt. fly rod, and the fly line is much easier to control than the mono I was using last year on a baitcaster. I had 4 fish hooked within my first half hour. Two of them I got very close to landing. I even had a nice guy try to help me out by netting one, but his net hit the line and knocked the hook. Was only able to fish about an hour, so I figured getting into four fish in that time frame was pretty decent for a beginner like myself, especially where not a ton of fish were being caught.

I have a question about the hooks to use on the Russian. I know they have to be 3/8 gap, etc. Does anybody have a Tiemco hook number for them? I just took down a batch of "3 for a dollar Russian river flies" from here in town, and I noticed that they did not hook really well, and after my 3rd and 4th hookups, the points had been smashed down a bit, thus the terrible hookups on those fish. I imagine these great deal flies don't use top notch hooks, so I figured I would just tie up a batch of my own using really quality hooks. I know several people here have said they simply tie a piece of yarn to a hook and call it a "fly." So my question is, which hook are you doing that with? Thanks in advance.

[bkmail]

Ultra Point by Mustad

You can't go wrong w/a Mustad hook. Beats the others hands down! The points are chemically sharpened thus they are not weakened during the process and are extremely strong. Plus, they make a Russian River Fly hook specifically designed for this fishery. Send me a PM if you need more info or ordering #'s.
BK

[otterbfishin]

hooks

bkmail
What is the mustad number?

[Wyatt]

Russian River Hook Number

Mustad's Russian River fly hook is Number 36717! I've always had good luck with size 4''s - Just big enough to keep your neighbors at bay when combat fishing.

[akprideinvegas]

yea agree with the mustad. always use them for my russian river flies. after a while of beating the rocks the will dull up so i always carry my leatherman with a file to sharpen the hooks. good luck

[Kort]

Gamakatsu

These hooks are the only way I fish the russian, tie my own and they are very sharp and stay that way for a long time. Took home four reds this weekend on the Russian. "Fish On"!!

[jmg]

Russian Hooks

Is there a place here in Anchorage to pick these hooks up? Sportsman's Wharehouse? I went over to Mt. View and they did not carry them and WW Angler was out.

[akprideinvegas]

mt. vew sports should carry them. did you ask a worker for the russian river hooks. they should have big boxes of 100. that is where i used to get all of my fly tying needs when i was up there... so i would double check

[Sketch]

You can use ANY hook that has a gap LESS than 3/8's inch. There are tons of hooks out there that fit that spec. I caught all my reds yesterday on a simple trout hook, size 6. Had to be careful as they would straighten out if I applied too much pressure, but I had lots of room to play them. If you fish in a combat zone, you'll need something with a heavier wire so you can muscle the fish in and not bother your neighbors. But as long as the gap is less than 3/8's of an inch, you are good to go. A good Gamakatsu should do it.

[svngafly]

Hooks for Russian River

Last weekend my wife and I experimented with different hooks We were using Daiichi X510 (size 4) and Gamakatsu L11S-3H (size 6).

The Daiichi is a much stonger and shorter shanked hook. Both were tied identical with a short strip of rabbit fur.

Between the two of us we hooked about 40 reds and landed 15. Very few (2) on the Daiichi were foul hooked. About 50% of the fish hooked on the Gamakatsu's were snagged. We both agreed that the Daiichi held much better. Very few fish that got on got off, unless you were really trying to lead or hold the fish.

That's our experience...

Scott

[Michael Strahan]

Coho Fly Hooks

I agree on the Gamakatsu hooks; they're needle-sharp right out of the box. Another I've had some success with is the Mustad 36890 in number 4, if I remember correctly. The 36890 has a turned-up eye, which seems to hook fish a little better than the turned-down eye found on the Mustad 36717, which is the traditional "Coho Fly" hook used by many commercial tyers.

Perhaps a better choice would be a ring-eye hook like the TMC 9394; this gives you a straight pull when you set the hook.

One of the most critical issues I've found with hook selection is choosing one that can be sharpened several times. I haven't had good luck with the Mustad 36717 in this regard, and I question whether the Gamakatsu hooks need to be sharpened at all. They're great.

-Mike