Something that I have wondered about since taking up fly fishing is whether a fish can see a hook or not.

Granted the general shape of a fly represents something like a natural food source but given that most flies are not tied behind the bend in the hook then a fair percentage of the hook is left bare.

With the likes of spinners they have silver treble hooks on them and I have caught fish using worms or maggots on a single silver hook.

Is it possible that fish can see the hooks and if so could the hook itself be the trigger point?

Thoughts anyone?

Well, I caught a rainbow this year, netted it and just before returning it I asked "Didn't you see the hook, dummy?". The reply was a little non-committal and the fish was still musing over the question when it swam away, though I did notice a slight hue of embarrassment fall over it's face, which I took as it didn't really see the hook, or to be more precise, it didn't know what a hook was.

Hope this helps.

It is safe to assume that fish do not know what a hook is but the thing that I am interested in is if the hook itself acts as a trigger point?

(Heres a prediction:Maramalade will disagree with me on this).
Yes they can see the hook in most cases , and no they dont care! They can see the nylon to in most cases too and they dont care about that either!
What they care about is food behaving badly.. like moving slightly across the current when it should be drifting with the current, or resisting the flow of the current. That's what puts them off there food, not an extra bit hanging down from the fly.

When they're on buzzers a bare hook will tempt them without a doubt. Try a gold or black grub hook.

I took a carp in a club match (coarsh fishing) last week before the whistle whilst plumbing up on the float. I assumed I must have foul hooked it but no, when it came in it was lip hooked fair and square. So no, I do not think larger, more aggressive or competive species are hookshy. Small silvers might be a difrrent matter with castrs you sometimes have to bury the hook completely to get a bite

With flyfishing remember theres less of the hook showing than with most coarse methods, whether just niked through a maggot or hair-rigged and the whole hook showing with the bait sitting touching the bend.

__________________
Around the steel no tortur'd worm shall twine,
No blood of living insect stain my line;
Let me, less cruel, cast feather'd hook,
With pliant rod athwart the pebbled brook,
Silent along the mazy margin stray,
And with fur-wrought fly delude the prey

your talking a different language to me. Carp?
I do have some red hooks I keep in my box for still waters, its great satisfaction to catch a trout on a bare hook... it feels so minimal!

as Mr. Pom states behaviour/presentation of the fly is of more importance. There are a few clever flies out there to get around the problem though- take for example the USD flies of john goddard and brian clarke.

I can't say that I've noticed that the fish are particularly bothered by the prescence of the hook though.

And, something to ponder, we might trying to imitate natural insects with our flies, but I reckon the trout take ours readily because they stand out that little bit more. Ever watched one of those steady rising brownies sipping down every fourth or fifth natural drifting in its path- but it will respond to your fly right away on the first cast? (presuming the first cast goes right which can be a problem for myself )

I have caught a few fish on just a bare gold grub hook so I think in some cases it could be a trigger for some fish meaning that fish can see the hook.

Alan

Hooks? What hooks?

Must dash,

Ronnie Rainbow.

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[I]"I still don't know why I fish or why other men fish, except that we like it and it makes us think and feel."[/I] Roderick L Haig-Brown

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