For those seeking a standard dry fly hook in smaller sizes, choice is becoming increasingly limited. Many manufacturers' ranges bottom out at #20. Mustad have pretty much ceased producing many of their small hook patterns (R50 & R30 down-eye, standard dry fly and C49S fine wire, curved shank hook) with a greater focus on saltwater and pike hooks. Fulling Mill, the main UK distributor for Tiemco's TMC hooks offer a good range but mainly down to #16 - and at a time when pack size is being reduced from 25 to 20 hooks, and price increases result in a net 30% rise.
Daiichi is a well respected brand in the US - great care goes in to the design and manufacture of what is now a very broad
range of patterns:
- Eyes are precision tooled, true to the hooks design
- Brittleness is minimised by tempering to an exact formula
- High carbon steel provides superior strength and long point life
- Unsurpassed sharpness: Daiichi start with a 12 degree angle constant tapered ground needle point. This eliminates irregularities in shape, assuring no weak spots and gives amazing speed of penetration
- Chemical sharpening deburs the points to make each hook sticky sharp
- Daiichi's mini-barbs have a low profile design that creates an increase in wire diameter of only 20% avoiding the risk of lost fish and broken points
I first used the 1110 two years ago when TMC 101's became scarce (Tiemco manufacture a single production run per year, so supply can be erratic). The 1110 has a shorter shank than the 101, a marginally wider gape and feature an oversized eye. This is a true small hook pattern, the #26 is smaller than some #28's.
Quality is impeccable and consistent, and these are among the sharpest hooks I've used. Aesthetically, the combination of finish and overall proportions make for uniquely attractive hook, something I value highly in small hook patterns.
Most standard dry fly hooks offer a down-eye and straight eye variant. My personal preference is for a straight eye. This style creates the
illusion of a longer shank, a key psychological advantage when tying small, and also makes for an assured finish, it's almost impossible to slip the thread over the eye. Strength is excellent for a fine wire hook.
I've taken wild trout to 14" on both the #24 and #26. The wide gape produces solid hook-ups and a strong hold after de-barbing.
The shank length readily accommodates a parachute hackle. Thorax duns, comparaduns, no-hackles and more traditional collar-hackled fly patterns also look good on this hook. The fine wire lends itself to tying sparse spider patterns, floating nymphs and the midge life-cycle stages.
The Daiichi 1110 is a fantastic hook which can be used to cover a broad range of tying applications. From personal experience of tying and fishing this pattern over two full seasons in #24 and #26, this is one of the finest small, standard dry fly hooks available and Daiichi's performance and quality claims are entirely justified.
Daiichi 1110's down to #26 are available in the UK at the
Fly Tying Boutique.
Tie with style, fish with confidence.
I uploaded a couple of images to my desktop in case I found time to post whilst away, including a scene from last weekend's outing on a local stream. It's not a good time to be away- the fishing improves by the day at this time of year so I'm missing some good, low water, surface fishing.
Enjoy the coming weekend.... following a little rain back home to freshen up the streams forecasts are looking good.
