Hooks

[leahcim_dahc]

I have been buying various types of fly hooks. Anything from #18 dry fly to #2 circle streamer, #8 shrimp to #12 egg and everything in between. My intention is to have a wide selection of hooks for just about any fly I could possibly imagine tying and for just about every species. Bass, Carp, Trout, Steelhead, Salmon, Panfish...you name it.

The biggest issue, especially for someone on a budget, would be the cost of hooks. So far the average cost for a package of 25 hooks is right around $4.50 from various sources. Some a bit higher and some a bit lower.

The other day I stopped by Sportco to pick up some more supplies, including hooks. I had a handful of packages that was going to cost me around $50 just for the hooks. While wandering around, I found in another location some more hooks that looked close enough to the one's I picked up out of the fly shop that they could easily substitute. These hooks weren't specifically for fly tying, but the matched pretty damned close. Is there a specific reason fly hooks cost so much more than a similar hook intended for something else? The hooks I was comparing were #14 straight eye dry fly at four bucks and some change, and Owner #14 mosquito hooks at one dollar and some change. Granted in the Owner package there was only 12, but even if I bought 2 packages it was still cheaper than one of the Mustad's.

Are fly hooks manufactured with materials or methods that they cannot be substituted with anything else? If I wasn't buying enough hooks to last me for a year or for more than one person, without the need of a resupply, it wouldn't be that big an issue buying at $4.50 a package. However buying that many hooks at that cost is starting to eat away at my budget relatively quickly.