Hi Hank, I never heathen the point of the hook, only the eye to prevent it from braking when i make the hook eye straight to the hook. If you press down the point of the hook, you must not held the hook and the pair of tongs square of each other but on one line so you can press the barb down withou...

Actually I’ve persevered with the old Captain Hamilton and they are pretty good, but when I smash the barb down a good number of the break. I’ve now have some of the new Partridge L3AS spider hooks which I really like, I couldn’t buy them locally so I had to order online.

Thanks for all the tips, now off to the vice to give it a try.
Barry

I’m having problems with tying a nice herl head on my flies. Does anyone have any tips to improve my technique. Such as which part of the peacock feather do you use? Which side? And which end? I am continually breaking the herl when I wrap it. I’m using Robert Smith’s book as a guide.
Thanks
Barry

Yep, very interesting technique, I’ve seen it done before when tying a PT wrapping the pheasant tail herl around the wire but never dubbing. I’ve got some very fine wire so I’m going to give it a try on a soft hackle nymph.
Thanks for the link.
Baz

I agree the TMC 900BL is a nice hook, not the strongest but let's remember most soft hackle fishing is done on streams with not so large fish and having a very strong steelhead strength hook is not needed. I prefer a nice looking fly so my choice of hook would be more based on looks!
Barry

Ray, I am intrigued by the feathers from the Landrail and those of the Dotterel, I'm convinced the wing I have is Dotterel. The reason I say this is I have a original copy of Brook and River Trouting and referencing the color plates, mine is in very good condition with all the tissue separating the ...

Found these hooks and they appear to be fabulous for soft hackle flies. Very sharp as all Gamakatsu hood are.

Here is my version of a Tups and Partridge spider.
It was a bugger to get the ram to stand still whilst I took a few cuttings from around his nuts and the neighbors spaniel will never look the same with its new haircut!
No, just bs, this fly was only possible thanks to Ray ( letumgo)

One is a Watchet and the other is a Dotterel using Starling under coverts instead of the impossible to obtain Dotterel
Your comment and critique would be welcome. But please remember these are fishing flies and not for display.
Barry