just been watching matt hayes on sky,
fiishing for carp on waggler float he said he had 8lb line all the way threw his rod,the bait he was useing was lob worm,he was hooking the worms about 3cm from there head-i didnt catch what size hook he was useing,
can anyone let me know whats a good hook size to use for this method, also am i best getting 8lb line or less or more
my local pits the carp go upto about 16lb i think
thanks

8lb line is fine but if there are perch in the area you might pick up one of them instead of the carp, why not try pellet instead. by the way whole lobs need a big hook say a size 4.

ok thnks
so am i best hooking the worm twice with say a size 4 or 6 hook

And maybe a smidge of something like a piece of rubber or a dab of baitstik on after the worm so it stays on the hook.

r good idea niceone
wouldnt a piece of rubber on the hook put the fish off though

Never fished the UK so can't say for sure. No problem with my local fish but yours may react differently.

I know a dab of the baitstick wouldn't cause problems. It's a specialized goo sorta like silicone but made for angling. Sticks to a hook well enough that you can use it to hold insects on the hook without putting the point through them.

www.baitstick.com is a US site though and I don't know of any other place to buy it.

I use a couple of ways to hook worms but would never hook them more than once.
For perch a large lob on a size 4 is maximum for me.The worm itself can certainly take up to a size 2 but I dont like too big a hook because of the probnlem of deep penetration.Same reason I dont use a barbless hook for perch.For carp where you are not expecting perch a 4 or 2 is fine.Never had a problem keeping them on the hooks with barbed but when I was using barbless the rubber trick works well.Certainly doesnt bother them.

If targetin Perch, I cut the lob in half. Two baits and the ooze seems to attract. As for barbless, I normally tip with a maggot hooked through the middle, this seems to work quite well.

Why use bits of rubber etc when you can use an imitation maggot / caster that looks more natural and adds a bit of bouancy to the bait?

8lb line is ok if using an avon type rod and there are not to many snags.

You could try using the lift method with your float set a few mm UNDER the water.
As soon as any fish takes the bait the float WILL rise out of the water and you will not have to worry about them annoying line bites.

As usual I'm with Budgie, although my maximum hook size is usually a 6 for a whole lob. Large hooks, especially barbless ones, can kill perch as they can penetrate into vital organs, that in the case of the perch are near the surface of the throat.

On the other hand, too small a hook can cause missed bites or the fish coming off whilst you're playing it. If you do miss bites try increasing the distance between weight and hook.

If this doesn't work I'd then try half a worm. You don't need to go down to a smaller hook as it's the width of the worm that's more important than its length. At least it is if you're using a lightweight fine wire hook rather than a heavy carp hook.

As to hooking, most lobs have a ring a few cms from the head. This is tougher than the rest of the worm and is the ideal place for the hook. Hooked here, you don't need to put the hook in more than once and this will improve your presentation and decrease missed bites.