Mustad 34011 hook

More people are turning to fly-fishing for pike than any other form of fishing and as it gains in popularity more and more fishing tackle specialists are coming around to the idea that there is a market for the development of specialist pike fly-fishing tackle. A lot more effort could be put in to the development & research by fly rod manufactures into producing specialized pike fly rods though, but the one area that pike fly-fishing could benefit from is the development and production is specialized Pike hooks.
Sure there are a few specific pike hooks with well known fishing celebrities names tagged to them but on a whole this truly is an area that is in dire need of some development.
The Mustad 34011 hook has been around for donkeys years and is probably used more commonly by pike fly-fishermen than any other hook on the market. This off course is due to its long shank, and that it can be found in 3/0 size and is more readily available from tackle shops than other brands, Shapes or models. Specialist pike fly hooks generally have to be bought of the internet unless you have a decent retailer close by that understands the needs of a pike fly-fisherman……and we know how common they are!
I feel though the Mustad 34011 hook has some design flaws that I think the company could look into and change or either develop a separate hook altogether. Here you can see I have overlaid the Gamakatsu SL12S Big game saltwater fly hook over the Mustad 34011 to show you what I am talking about.As you can see the 34011 has a wonderfully long shaft which is so attractive for us pike fly-fishermen solely because of the amount of surface area we can tie our materials on too it, but the gape between the hook point and the shaft desperately falls short of what is needed…….which the Gamakatsu SL12S gives.
Now if Mustad or any other manufacturer for that matter could develop a hook with as longer shaft but with the qualities and size of gape, bite & bend the Gamakastsu SL12S saltwater hook has then they would be on to a winner. Alternatively Mustad also produce the Saltwater Tarpon C68S SZ hook which would be perfect if it had the longer shaft the 34011 has. Lastly I also feel if one of these manufacturers does eventually get of their arse’s and develop a range of specific pike fly hooks they could produce them with out a barb.
I feel this is a never ending topic I’m sure I will go on about for years to come.