Hooks

[Elton]

Something in the coarse fishing forum made me think....

 

In sea fishing, is the type of hook used totally determined by the bait being used, or does the target species come into it? If so, how?

 

TL,

 

Elton

[Dave Godwin]

Elton the answer is both, obviously a large bait requires a large hook or a pennel rig (two hooks).

Certain species need a smaller hook to have a chance of cating one, look at the mouth of a sole and you will see that you would need a hook about a size 4 because of the very small curved mouth.

As always there will be a fluke catch like the guy on my boat some years ago who caught a cod one ounce under twenty pounds on a 1/0 fine wire dab hook, i was seating as i had tied it on for him

 

Dave

[John E Ashford]

As Dave says “Elton the answer is both”

 

Using a size 4/0 baited with live sand eel would give me a better chance of catching Bass (On The Portland Race) rather than a size 1 baited with a slither of Squid

 

Using a size 1 baited with a slither of Squid would give me a better chance of catching Black Bream (Over the Reefs Off Portland) rather than a 4/0 baited with live sand eel.

 

To maximize your catch chances of your targeted species you do use different Hooks and Baits but that doesn’t say you won’t catch other species other than those targeted.