[They would be perfect if they weren't sold out. Had me kind excited there
[/quote]

Sorry about that. They go fast. Try here:

https://fishfield.com/products/mustad-s ... hooks.html

As others have said, welcome to the forum. For flymphs I like the up eyed Mustad 94842. They are no longer made. Fortunately for me, I bought a lot of them before they stopped making them. For spiders I like the Daiichi 1640, short shank and straight eye. Thanks to another board member (DUBBN), Who...

Roger Fogg, in his 1988 "A Handbook of North Country Trout Flies", popularized the Drennan Specimen carp hook for spiders. When Daiichi started selling their 1640 hooks a lot of tyers gravitated towards them. They are now being marketed as tube fly hooks, When Partridge started making the ...

ADDITIONAL LINK: https://theslidingstream.net/a-guide-to ... ckles/amp/

"Silk Fur and Feather" by G.E.M. Skues is probably the best book on the subject.

Polly was unique in that he felt that a large head on his nymphs was a more realistic representation. I don't see a problem with going a hook length size lower and tying a normal thread head. I’ve been able to get all his Belding silk colors on Etsy or eBay.

Polly used Nymo thread for many of his flies. For example, he used #1248 Turf Tan for his Fledermouse fly. It’s still available here :

https://www.fishhairenterprises.com/

I see Carl Sanders has an article in the print version of Soft-Hackle Journal.

http://soft-hacklejournal.blogspot.com/

Puce dyed hackle.
5

Lou, As a fly tyer dyer I’ve had to look up those colors. The word puce means flea in French.I dyed both light and dark puce. The colors are based on the the back and belly of a flea. The dye recipes are more than 200 years old. http://thisisversaillesmadame.blogspot.com/2018/01/puce-flea-colour.htm...

This is the part of the book where Skues describes the different styles.

https://archive.org/details/wayoftroutw ... 8/mode/2up