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Even though I already posted about my general experience at this year’s Denver Fly Fishing Show, I left a lot of loose ends. So, over the course of the next couple weeks, I will probably have a few posts here and there telling you about some of the gems I found there. One such gem was the Allen Fly Fishing Octopus Hook.Allen Fly Fishing was giving away an assortment of hooks at their booth and these octopus hooks immediately stood out as potentially good ones for sakasa kebari. The first thing I noticed was that these hooks are heavy! This makes them ideal for helping to sink your fly in the absence of split shot. I like that a lot.
Upon closer examination, I noticed that not only were the hooks very sharp, but the point is off set for better hook ups. And the up eye is very large, which will make threading flies a breeze.
Off set hook point and easy-to-thread up eye
They come in 2 finishes: a gorgeous black nickel (which is what I got) and red–for those of you who swear by the fishing catching magic of red hooks.
But the real shocker is the price. If you read my post about my favorite hook for tenkara flies, you know that I complained a bit about the price. When I went to Allen Fly Fishing’s website, I was pleasantly surprised to see that a package of 25 of their octopus hooks is nearly 1/3 the price of my beloved TMC hooks! Nice! They’re not barbless, but the barb crushes very easily and because the wire is so heavy, you won’t run the risk of breaking any hook points in the process.
Allen Fly Fishing Octopus Hooks 25 pack
A quick note on size. You may notice that these are a size #6 which might seem large. But the size designation is deceiving because of the hook style. In reality, these hooks are rated about 2 hook sizes up. So, for example, my #6 octopus hook is similar in size to the #10 TMC 2499SPBL I would normally use:
Allen Octopus Hook #6 (left) and TMC 2499SPBL #10 (right)
Allen only makes these hooks down do size #8 (equivalent of a #12) and I’d say the size #4 – #8 would be a good range for sakasa kebari in the #8-#12 range.
Overall, these hooks impressed me with their quality and value. Many tenkara anglers in Japan tie their flies on octopus hooks so it was good to find an inexpensive source that has some interesting qualities and color options beyond standard bronze Mustad octopus hooks. My first pack was free, but I will have no problem shelling out the pocket change to get more as soon as they’re used up!
Too bad size 8 is the smallest they make. 8-(
TJ, the sizes on these hooks is deceiving because of the wide gap and extra short shank. The #6 I used is about the same size as the TMC hook I normally use in a size #10. So, I’d guess this hook in a #8 is really more like a #12. I will try to take a picture side by side today to show you a comparison.
See, getting 3-4x more hooks for your money is pretty good! even on their normal dry fly hooks and stuff the barbs are pretty easy to crush.
TJ- If you can get enough people to order enough hooks in some smaller sizes, I bet Justin (owner of AFF) would do either a custom run or add them to the normal supply.
I spoke to a rep from Allen about the lack of barbless hooks. He mentioned that they are planning on adding them to their line of hooks this spring.
Thanks for the update Larry. That’s good to know!
I went to allens site and cant seem to find them. I found a hook the “multipurpose egg stinger” which looks the same. but I couldnt find the “octopus hook”
im pretty sure they are the same thing, matt.
Yes, I think so too. Just different names but same hook. Follow the link in my post.
ah yes, of course thank you very much guys 🙂
Ijust ordered some of Octopus/Egg, Stinger hooks from Allen and was happy to discover that the shipping is free.
Now known as the MP001
http://www.allenflyfishing.com/mp001/