A Simple Hook Threader

by Mike McGuire

The combination of tiny flies and aging eyes—rhymes doesn't it—but it isn't much fun, especially threading a fine tippet through in poor light. Here's a simple, cheap, non-upscale, non-flyshop solution.

At the sewing notions counter you will find gadgets called needle threaders—about three for $1 in a package. They take the form of a loop of fine, spring wire staked to a thin, dime-sized aluminum plate. To thread a needle you push the loop through the eye, put the thread through the loop—easy to do—and pull it back through.

It's the same procedure to thread a hook eye. But as they come, the needle threaders don't work very well because the tip of the loop is oval-shaped to suit the slot-eye of a needle. It's necessary to pinch down the loop's tip with forceps or pliers to reshape it to a point so it will go through the round eye of a hook.

The last step is to punch a small hole in the plate and attach a bit of line to your new hook threader and the same retractor that holds your nippers.

These needle threaders typically last from one to a hundred flies before the wire breaks, so carry spares. They are affordable.