For the past many years I have been using competition hooks exclusively. They have been a great addition to my fishing and I am convinced that they play a large part in my fishing success. In competition fishing you are given a section of stream to fish, a length of time to fish it with the number, length, girth of the trout being recorded. It's the opposite of fishing for relaxation. You must know what you are doing, how to read the water and be very efficient in hooking and netting fish. That's where the hook come in.
Nothing against traditional hook designs but I prefer competition designs. They are usually aggressive in the gauge of wire, the profile of the bend and especially in the hook point. Of course, they are all barbless. Since I switched over to competition hooks in 2013 my hookup rate has gone up.
So it comes as no surprise that I am always on the lookout for high quality competition hooks. I've pretty much used all the available brands: Hends, Hanak, Dohiku, Gamakatsu, Fulling Mill, Tiemco, Umpqua, Orvis, Partridge, and a few others. But one thing that is a turn off, their price. Competition hooks tend to be more expensive.
Looking for good hooks at a good price is a passion of mine. Moonlit Fly Fishing has theirs and they are pretty good especially for the price, but I would like to see some innovative designs and more aggressive points. I'd also like to get rid of the standard 25 hooks per package -- I say, give us more per package. Here's where Kickstarter comes in. There is a Kickstarter project for an American company, Firehole Outdoors, to design new competition hooks. They call them Firehole Outdoors Sticks and I like what I see so far. Innovative profiles, excellent wire gauge, and aggressive upturned points. All to my liking. And they'll cost $10 USD for a package of 50 hooks, I like that too -- both the cost and the hook count.
I would encourage you to take a look at competition hooks in general as the next step in your tenkara journey, and to look at Firehole Outdoors. If you too like what you see why don't you throw a little money their way and support their project. It should benefit us all!
Disclosure: I have no affiliation, formal or otherwise, with Firehole Outdoors. I just want to get some more good hooks!
Nothing against traditional hook designs but I prefer competition designs. They are usually aggressive in the gauge of wire, the profile of the bend and especially in the hook point. Of course, they are all barbless. Since I switched over to competition hooks in 2013 my hookup rate has gone up.
So it comes as no surprise that I am always on the lookout for high quality competition hooks. I've pretty much used all the available brands: Hends, Hanak, Dohiku, Gamakatsu, Fulling Mill, Tiemco, Umpqua, Orvis, Partridge, and a few others. But one thing that is a turn off, their price. Competition hooks tend to be more expensive.
Looking for good hooks at a good price is a passion of mine. Moonlit Fly Fishing has theirs and they are pretty good especially for the price, but I would like to see some innovative designs and more aggressive points. I'd also like to get rid of the standard 25 hooks per package -- I say, give us more per package. Here's where Kickstarter comes in. There is a Kickstarter project for an American company, Firehole Outdoors, to design new competition hooks. They call them Firehole Outdoors Sticks and I like what I see so far. Innovative profiles, excellent wire gauge, and aggressive upturned points. All to my liking. And they'll cost $10 USD for a package of 50 hooks, I like that too -- both the cost and the hook count.
I would encourage you to take a look at competition hooks in general as the next step in your tenkara journey, and to look at Firehole Outdoors. If you too like what you see why don't you throw a little money their way and support their project. It should benefit us all!
Disclosure: I have no affiliation, formal or otherwise, with Firehole Outdoors. I just want to get some more good hooks!
I went and checked it out. It looks like if he doesn't raise the 15 grand this is going to be a bust! I do like the looks of the hooks and the price.
ReplyDeleteHey Les! You're absolutely right. I thought about using one of the other services that sends you whatever is raised but, that would have meant I had to compromise and I wasn't about to do that. I've spent way to much time, effort, and biscuits directly off the dinner table. My thought is that if it doesn't make it then I have some more marketing work to do and then I'll try again!
DeleteBest,
Joe
joe@fireholeoutdoors.com
Thanks for sharing this! I love that he's going out on a limb to make this happen. I think your publicity will help a lot.
ReplyDelete