length of tail when useing longshank hook

[horses50]

When useing a longshank hook 2x would the length of the tail be the same length as the body or would it be the length of the shank of the hook?

[richardw]

Originally Posted by horses50

When useing a longshank hook 2x would the length of the tail be the same length as the body or would it be the length of the shank of the hook?

Assuming you mean a fly representing a floating insect of some sort and that the choice of LS hook is to match the length of the real insects' bodies then surely you should make the tails to match the length of the tails (if any) of the real insects.

A Drake imitation would have tails as long as the body for the Dun and a bit longer for the tails of the Spinner. But a stonefly would have no tails at all. In some circumstances you might make the tails much longer and thicker to represent a stuck shuck...

Try and refer to the real thing wherever you can to get the sizes of any bit of the fly correctly proportioned.

richard

[roll cast]

For me I would use somewhere between the length the tails would be on a standard length hook up to about 3/4 of the long shank length

[horses50]

thanks for the replies,its been 20 odd years since i used L S hooks and i get your point of matching the tail length to the real thing Richard.I have been tying grhe and ptn with a gold bead, i tied them on b175 but they just looked out of proportion, all bead if you know what i mean.I will tie some up useing only about 3/4 of the shank for the tail length and see which i prefer.thanks again