I think the rap on Mustad for propensity to breakage is a little over stated.
95% of everything I tie on a size #10 hook or larger is tied on a Mustad hook and I haven't had one break on me since the late 70's. This includes all my smallmouth flies and the #10's I tie deerhair ants on. This latter is especially significant, IMO, because I probably go through 200+ #10 ants a year. I also have a habit of shaving my exploded ants (they last about 7-8 fish before they turn into little black porcupines) with a disposable razor and re-using the hooks. I've not had any of these break either.
I have had some trouble over the years with smaller Mustad hooks, particularly the old fine wire 94833's. But, even with these I'd be hard pressed to say this is a brand flaw or characteristic. Just the wages of fine wire and a guy who is rough on equipment (me). Are Mustads not as sharp out of the box? Probably... Are they overall more liable to breakage? Not that I can attest to.
I use mostly Dai-Riki, Cabelas (whoever makes them..) and The Fish Guy (tip of the hat to Afish to pointing me that way) dry fly hooks these days. I also have no reservations about buying Mustads when I need hooks in a hurry and that is all that is available via retail. They (well and Eagle Claw, which I think is a perfectly acceptable tying hook in the larger sizes) are the only brand I take a hook hone to before using. But other than the sharpness issue, I see nothing wrong with them.
Just a few other things (some of which I've mentioned before, I'm sure):
1) I've found White River hooks (BPS) to have the worst temper of any hook I've ever seen. They seem to have the temper of al dente linguine. For me, they pull out really easily.
2) There are some bad (brittle) Dai-Rikis floating around out there, or at least there were. I've had a lot of them snap on the pinch down. My hook guru and Dai-Riki supplier (he's in a wholesale pool with some guys who are in retail) tells me these were the result of Dai-Riki farming out some of their dry fly hook manufacture to a Korean outfit who really screwed them up on the first run. Supposedly, they're better now.
3) Don't buy Eagle Claw dry fly hooks (L059) unless you want a hook that is 1XL to 1.5XL longer in the shank than the purchased size. I bought 100 #12's ( a size I don't use very many of) from Cabela's and ended up tying #10 ants with all of them. They're loooong.
4) Except that he never has the ring eye dry fly hooks I like, I like The Fish Guy's hooks. I think he implies they are Tiemco's. I dunno. Pretty good hook though at a reasonable price.
