Hook sense

During this very long Winter I have been filling my fly boxes up to the top of each section and while doing it have noticed some mistakes that I have made for over 60 years! I have been tying foam ants on Tiemco 100's some 14's but mostly 16's and up but I have never been a fan of how they looked, yes they catch fish but I think they just look odd. Well the other night I used a new Fulling Mill hook, FM 50 25 Grab Gape Sprout Bend 3x short and the #16 Cinn., Red & Black ants look really good, you can also use Tiemco 921's and get the same result. With the FM hooks, I like the black finish but they are a bit slippery so you will need ZapaGap on the threads and on the last few turns on the foam (just put the glue on the thread and wind a few times. Now the shank is not so apparent, just need a few good days this summer to test them out.
  It is also very apparent that we have way too many hooks available to us and size is a big mystery, nothing makes any sense a 16 is not a 16 from manufacture to manufacture! As Steve from Fly Fishers Paradise said the other evening, most of us old guys grew up with Mustad then Tiemco and know and understand their size, the moral is read the item description before you buy them and understand the size you want to imitate. All bets are off when it comes to big streamers Arex and Gamma. are hands down the best hooks for that.
  Next up on the tying bench is gorilla bodied terrestrials with "8" legs on them, can't wait to chuck them at the banks on a really hot and windy day this summer.
  Note the "Fly Out" is on the agenda on March 21 9:00 AM @ The Union County Sportsman's Club 50 Sportsman's Club Lane, Millmont, PA 17845, come and spent the morning tying flies, trading materials or just watching and learning something new, IT IS A BLAST.