[Marc Fauvet]

point= distance from tip of point to hook bend: where the fish is actually held during the fight.
hooks like the Gamma you showed or as ex. a partridge klinkhammer have very little holding space.
sure, one can successfully catch fish with those hooks but using a factory barbless hook with a longer point dramatically increases landed fish rate.  follow ?

[Iain Goolager]

Size 12's & Size 14's


SLD's
Tiemco 2499SP-BL's
B100's

Could tie a short spider on the 14 but I can't think of a fly (that I tie) that would either suit this hook or not have a better option.

Might be a decent tube fly hook (I think Marc suggested this).

This barbless malarkey has thrown up a variety of hook point types and I must confess that I like the long tapered & slightly upturned variety. Hooks like the Tiemco 900 BL seem a weird design (which you never know might be the optimum design) a standard point length with a mere angled /slanted cut for a finish?
Having said that the point of one of my favourite hooks - the Tiemco 102Y offers no fancy safety features when debarbed but has yet to let me down.

Ben I agree about correct hook selection when targeting large fish, the likes of those which have been reported both caught and lost so far this season, using 103BL's, 2200's and the like only serve to weigh things in the fishes favour.
Both of the above to me are good hooks, lovely engineered hooks, but are limited to a certain calibre of fish.

Iain