hook sharpener and other gadgets

[Sammy]

Does everyone out there carry a hook sharpener on their vest? I never have, but starting to think that should own one. thoughts?

Also, what other fun gadgets would you say are a must have when out fishing?

[DFrink]

I do, now. For a long time I thought it was overkill. But hooks get dull, and if I start noticing a lot of miss's I will put an edge on the hook (at least then I have something to blame other than myself). Seriously I do believe it helps.

Dan

[DFrink]

Does everyone out there carry a hook sharpener on their vest? I never have, but starting to think that should own one. thoughts?

Also, what other fun gadgets would you say are a must have when out fishing?

Copenhagen... for good luck!

[PMD]

A waterproof camera. But here's the deal. If you forget it in the car, you will catch a fish worthy of a quick photo. If you do remember to stuff it in your vest, you'll catch dinks all day long.

-Taylor

[GreggH]

#1 most overlooked aspect to any fishing. Sharp hook's stick more fish.

[Sammy]

Copenhagen... for good luck!

HAHAHA

True dat.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

For several decades we have had sharper hooks that are mostly made in Japan.

Before that we always sharpened our hooks from the get go, especially the wet fly and larger saltwater hooks.

I learned how to correctly sharpen large saltwater hooks in the 1970s from fly fishing commando Al Perryman. Al would talk with all the best saltwater fly fishers and guides he could get around while at the sport shows back in the day. He said they all sharpened their larger hooks for Tarpon in subtly different ways.

Today, I don't think most need to worry about sharpening hooks except for those who are engaging the bottom of the rivers and streams with nymphs and streamers.

Most dry flies and nymphs that you buy in a fly shop are tied on high quality Japanese hooks that are very sharp right out of the box.

Even larger saltwater hooks from Japan are very sharp.

Without insulting too many people, most would actually have a chance of making their large Japanese salt water hooks less sharp by trying to sharpen them.

__________________________________________________ _____________________

For sharpening hooks we sell ceramic hones that are very fine and great for touching up hook points.

Next we have hones with diamond dust on them that are a little more aggressive for larger hooks that get damaged while fishing.

The most aggressive thing we sell is a small bastard file that is for seriously removing lots of metal like we did in the old days for tarpon and bill-fish on the old hooks.


.

[Ted S]

I have found that the only sharpening that I really do while fishing is while surf fishing. The hooks get dragged through the sand so much that they get dull pretty quickly. I resharpen about every hour or two which fishing the surf.

If you are looking for useful gadgets to have while trout fishing, I would put a stream thermometer, a small seine net for seeing what bugs are in the water, a used/trash tippet container, and a filter water bottle at the top of my list.

Ted

[Pound]

Other than the typical clippers, hemostat, and tippet dispenser, I also carry:

Hook sharpener - primarily for salt water. I bought it for Hawaii trips with all the coral bottoms, and just keep it in my vest.
Seine - which I use the quite often)
Toilet paper - pre cut and rolled into usable amounts in Ziploc bag.
Alligator clip with weight attached - This is used to place on the end of your leader to measure the depth of the still water you are floating over.
Camelbak
Headlamp
Knife
Some sort of nutrient bar.
Lighter.
Camera and sometimes a GPS.

What I need to add is a whistle.