What size gut for blind eyed hooks??

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wsbailey
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Re: What size gut for blind eyed hooks??

Post by wsbailey » Mon Jan 16, 2017 1:18 pm

I know of one person actually raising silk worms to make gut.

http://feathersmc.com/product/twisted-silk-gut/
Bazzer69
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Location: Redding California

Re: What size gut for blind eyed hooks??

Post by Bazzer69 » Mon Jan 16, 2017 2:06 pm

wsbailey wrote:I know of one person actually raising silk worms to make gut.

http://feathersmc.com/product/twisted-silk-gut/
I bought some twisted gut from John last year along with a number of other materials. I had no idea he was making his own. It's a messy business if you make it Spanish style. The article you quoted was very interesting. In it there is a old ad for drawn gut which is what I will be using. I've dry tested my 4lb gut and it very strong, next I'll wet test it knotted after a good soak. Of course I could use fluorocarbon and probably catch more fish, but I would like to experience how it was back in the 1800's. The Book you mentioned, I downloaded it, is very interesting to me because I have fished a lot of the North Devon streams many years ago. On the Taw, which was once a terrific salmon river I hooked a large salmon on a 6ft Partridge trout rod and a tiny dry fly, it was on for only a few seconds before it broke off. It was a total surprise to me since I was only fishing for the odd brown trout on a very warm summers day.
Thanks again for all the information you have given me, I really appreciate it. I've been a guide for many years but I'm still learning.
Regards
Barry
Love both fly fishing and fly tying, been doing it for a while
But not much good at either
wsbailey
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Location: Fort Wayne Indiana

Re: What size gut for blind eyed hooks??

Post by wsbailey » Mon Jan 16, 2017 2:15 pm

At one point I thought about getting a jeweler's draw plate and drawing some myself but never pursued it.
Bazzer69
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Location: Redding California

Re: What size gut for blind eyed hooks??

Post by Bazzer69 » Mon Jan 16, 2017 2:25 pm

I'm not sure what a jewelers draw plate is but I can imagine. Here in Northern California Mullberry trees are common, some even have delicious fruit on them. But think I'll leave the messy process to someone else!
Love both fly fishing and fly tying, been doing it for a while
But not much good at either
wsbailey
Posts: 990
Joined: Fri Feb 27, 2009 6:30 pm
Location: Fort Wayne Indiana

Re: What size gut for blind eyed hooks??

Post by wsbailey » Mon Jan 16, 2017 2:29 pm

I would use gut that was already made.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/251917461/ ... aQod31gFAw
wsbailey
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Re: What size gut for blind eyed hooks??

Post by wsbailey » Mon Jan 16, 2017 2:43 pm

This book mentions silk gut in numerous places. Type in gut where it says search inside this book.

https://archive.org/stream/anglerscompa ... 8/mode/2up
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tie2fish
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Re: What size gut for blind eyed hooks??

Post by tie2fish » Mon Jan 16, 2017 3:21 pm

Three or four years ago I tied up some snelled gut flies for a project that Don Bastian was working on at the time. This one, the #8 Grouse Hackle pattern in Mary Orvis Marbury's "Favorite Flies and Their Histories", is tied on a Size #4 Mustad 3399 with the eye cut off and snelled with 6 lb polished silk fishing gut produced in "Occupied Japan" after the end of WWII. The card it came on says the coil length is 10 yards, so it must be drawn silk.
#8 Grouse Hackle per M. O. Marbury.jpg
#8 Grouse Hackle per M. O. Marbury.jpg (220.94 KiB) Viewed 5414 times
Some of the same morons who throw their trash around in National parks also vote. That alone would explain the state of American politics. ~ John Gierach, "Still Life with Brook Trout"
Bazzer69
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Re: What size gut for blind eyed hooks??

Post by Bazzer69 » Mon Jan 16, 2017 6:23 pm

Yes, it's the same Japanese gut that I have. I believe they used various chemicals to clean the gut and to overlap sections to get the longer lengths. I have 4lb, 5lb and 20lb. Obviously I'm using the lighter gut for my small soft hackles. If you don't try to "horse " a fish upstream then the lighter tippets are fine I see to many fishermen point the rod at a downstream fish and crank away. One of two things usually happen, either the ripper breaks of the side of the fishes jawbone gets broken! I like alight tipper because at worst you just leave the hook in the fish which will rot away in due course.
Are you sure you snelled the gut to the hook or did you just whip it on after flattening a small section?
Love both fly fishing and fly tying, been doing it for a while
But not much good at either
wsbailey
Posts: 990
Joined: Fri Feb 27, 2009 6:30 pm
Location: Fort Wayne Indiana

Re: What size gut for blind eyed hooks??

Post by wsbailey » Tue Jan 17, 2017 3:35 am

This site shows some gut being pulled.

http://www.wormspit.com/silkgut.htm
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tie2fish
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Re: What size gut for blind eyed hooks??

Post by tie2fish » Tue Jan 17, 2017 8:27 am

Bazzer69 wrote: Are you sure you snelled the gut to the hook or did you just whip it on after flattening a small section?
You are correct, of course. This technically was an inaccurate use of "snell".
Some of the same morons who throw their trash around in National parks also vote. That alone would explain the state of American politics. ~ John Gierach, "Still Life with Brook Trout"
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