Hook Terminology

1. Eye - Eyes may be down turned as in the example, straight or upturned. 
   never crowd the eye when tying your fly, and try to keep the size of the thread head of the fly about the same as the hook eye.

2. Shank - The shank is used to determine most of the proportions of a fly. There is a slight variation on 'standard' shank lengths from hook manufacturer to manufacturer. The length of the shank is determined by the S&L code..
   XS Shank lengths smaller than 'standard'
   XL Shank lengths longer than 'standard'
   i.e. a 1XS hook has a shank length 1 units shorter than standard, while a 4XL Hooks shank is 4 units longer. How much 'a unit' is depends on the hook manufacturer.

3. Bend - The area between the shank and barb, on curved shanked hooks this can sometimes be hard to determine.
   There are several different styles of bend...
   Round Bend - The bend is basically a half circle
   Limerick - The bend is tighter at the bottom

4. Gap (or Gape) - The Gape (or Gap) determines the size of the hook. While hooks may have different Gapes, and shank lengths any size #10 hook will have roughly the same distance from the bend to the point (There is some variations between manufacturers, but very rarely within a manufacturers range.)

5. Barb - The barb is formed just behind the point of the hook, some models of hooks have no barbs and are known as 'barbless', some have very fine barbs, these are known as Micro Barbed Hooks. Most barbed hooks can be made barbless by flattening the barb with a pair of pliers, or the jaws of your vise.

6. Wire - The strength of wire used is represented by the F&H scale.
   1XH is 1 grade stronger than Standard, 2XH is 2 grades stronger etc.
   1XF is 1 grade finer than standard.

[ Fly Box Home ]