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When you think about the hook to use to tie a fly on there are several considerations that should come into consideration. One area which is often overlooked, or at least not given full consideration, is the holding mechanics of the hook (ceteris parabus i.e. if all other things are the same such as the weight of the hook, the length of the bite of the hook, the dressing, the way it's fished etc. etc.).

The basic competitor for this vital element is often the simplest of criteria i.e. how the fly looks. How the fly looks is of course very important because it alone may be the factor that determines if the fish views our artificial offering as food or at least something it should put in its mouth.

It may however worth making a bit of a trade in relation to how the fly looks if by selecting a more mechanically efficient hook the number of fish landed is higher even if the number of inquiries are less.

The following diagram is a representation of 5 different types of hooks: (C) bend back; (D) upturned eye; (E) straight eye; (F) down turned eye and finally just one point (G) representing jig, grub & curved nymph type hooks.

The red circle centre at point (C) and the green circle centre at point (G) and the circumference of each circle just touches the bend of the hook.

The point where the green circle just touches the bend of the hook has been designated (B+) and the point where the red circle just touches the bend of the hook has been (A-). There would also be points where circles with their centres at (D), (E) and (F) would also just touch the end of the hook but they have been left off the diagram to avoid it becoming too congested.

The line (A) which runs from (C) to (A-) is a notional line of force from where the tippet is tied onto the eye of a bend back hook. Ceteris parabus (all other things being equal) a fish connected to a bend back hook will slide round to point (A-) on that bend back hook.

The line (B) which runs from (G) to (B+) is a notional line of force from where the tippet is tied onto the eye of say a  jig, grub or curved nymph hook. In contrast to the bend back hook example ceteris parabus (all other things being equal) a fish connected to a bend back hook will slide round to point (B+) on of say a  jig, grub or curved nymph hook.

So what you can conclude from these basic observations is that the lower the eye of the hook to the bend of the hook then the higher around the bend of the hook the fish will 'hang'. This observations has significant implications for the fly tier and the fly fisher because it explains why such hooks as say jig, grub and curved nymph hooks hold fighting fish better than hooks with eyes that are higher in relation to the bend of the hook.

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