In 1990 Jim Lepage and the Orvis Co. designed and patented the original “Big Eye” hook. The original big eye was a straight eyed dry fly hook with an oversized eye (Daiichi 1110) to facilitate easy threading of tippets. Style #1100 was introduced in 1994. It is the same basic design as to 1110 except it is the down-eyed version, which is more popular for dry flies.