Summer Steelhead fly tied on NS115 by Jay Nicholas.
I have been tying and fishing a hook that is new to me but well established in Northern Europe for some time. While there are many styles of Ahrex fly tying hooks that we can provide — from tiny dry fly and scud patterns to tube fly hooks, wet fly, nymph and streamer hooks in the mix.
Overall, I am very enthused with the hook styles, finish, point sharpness, small barbs, barbless styles, and so forth that the Ahrex fly tying hook portfolio brings to the fly bench.
My basic approach to Ahrex – like any other fly tying hook – is to focus my tying on specific hooks to explore with flies that I enjoy tying and evaluate how the product shapes up. This post is on the Ahrex NS115 Nordic Salt Deep Streamer Hook — one of the first Ahrex hooks I have been tying on.
Regarding the NS115, I give it very high marks, and this in some respects is related to my sadness over the absence of the TMC 700 hook from the production line. The TMC 700 is a down eye, limerick bend hook with a slightly long shank and a very sharp point.
The NS115 has an eye that is so very slightly downturned, is black nickel finish, and is properly hefty to ensure that my wet flies swim true.
I’ll close by saying that I have a very high opinion of Ahrex fly tying hooks and consider many of the models I have tested to be on par generally with Gamakatsu, TMC, and Daiichi hooks.
Jay Nicholas – 2018
