We often hear the recommend hook size for carp should be #6 or #8, but hook size choice should be tailored to bait choice.  Chumming is not allowed in every where you fish so this affects bait style even further.  So typical bait of canned corn may require more than a couple of kernals.  Kernals size will vary, since most canned corn are cut kernals.  It's far better to use whole kernal corn, not only for size, but they also stay on the hook better.  I prefer to use either a #4 for #2 size hook and generally use about 2 or 3 whole kernal corns or 4 to 6 partially cut corn.

When using bread clumped on a hook, I will use hook sizes of #2 or #4.  Baiscally just enough bread to cover the hook.  Sometimes a bigger clump works better, other times a smaller clump works better.

When using nightcrawlers for carp, I will use hook sizes anywhere from #4 up to a #1 hook.  It depends on whether I'm using a half crawler or a whole crawler.  Furthermore we know that the store bought crawlers will vary in size too.

I believe that hook size choice is also affected by the water from where you catch your carp from.  For the lake variety, I find smaller hooks are often more successful.  For the river variety, larger hooks have been more successful for me.  I guess the lake carps often mouth their food and spit it out with a higher frequency compared to the river carps that often mought their food and pull or suck on it much harder.  For myself, I personally like to avoid deep throat hooking a carp so the choice of a larger hook has worked so much better.  Big carps have big mouths, so don't be afraid to use a larger hook to give a nice lip hook set on. 

In fact some of my best hooked carp on the river came from a large gap bass hook size 1/0 with half nightcrawler for bait.   The large hook does a good job of preventing the fish from taking the hook deep as well as the fish tries to suck it up more resulting in a more efficient lip hook.  There was a person who was using a 2/0 straigt shank bass worm hook with only two pieces of whole kernal corn on it.  Next thing I knew, he pulled up a 15# carp.  I was amazed at his choice of technique.  They guy said, the carp suck harder to try to get at the two peices of kernal corn and will take up the hook for it.  So I guess it helps to keep an open mind about other people's choices.

No sarcasm, no innuendo, just factual discussion. Here goes ........

Hooks sized #6-8 are usually recommended, though not always, for several reasons, but before we get to why there has to be mention of the hooks strength. You may be able to use a regular wire hook to land carp, even quite large ones, but they also tend to straighten or deform enough that a good one is going to come off. Go with forged hooks instead. You will land a larger percentage of fish. Now, we can agree that hook size should be tailored to bait choice, but the size of a fish's mouth at that point loses a great deal of importance at that juncture, especially with small baits like corn or even small boilies or pieces of crawler. Adding to these points, smaller hooks are less noticeable to fish, especially if you are going to go all out and start using hair rigging and the like, which leaves the hook completely exposed to inspection (and also hooks in the lower lip 99% of the time). On a personal note here, I use hair rigs for all my carp, they are quite easy to tie even for fumble-fingered folk like myself. They are not necessary, but personally I recommend them highly. They do require one specialized piece of equipment in order to use them, some sort of baiting "needle", but you can make one by simply straightening out a long shank light wire hook and gluing it to some sort of handle. To use it you push it through whatever bait you're using, catch the loop in your hair rig behind the barb, then push your bait onto the hair. You can use a piece of anything to keep the bait in place by catching it in the loop and pushing the bait back against it.

Chumming, or the ability to do it legally, has no bearing on hook choice whatsoever. None of what you chum is attached to a hook, it's merely free food to get fish to come to where you're fishing and get them in the mood for more, and for carp the initial attraction comes from scent, since they aren't going to see whatever it is you chummed with until they actually get to it. With that in mind, for those who can't legally do it, try making a dough bait in a flavor you like for carp (there are literally dozens you could use right in the grocery store). Add this same flavor to your can of corn. Mold a bit of the dough around your sinker, not the hook, then add a few pieces of corn to the hook. You have a lot of flavor going into the water, but a small attractive bait close by with the hook point exposed so it takes a bite quickly.

This is the first time I've heard anyone make an argument for hook choice based on the water they are fishing, no matter what species. Carp are carp no matter the water they live in, they feed the same way in all of them based on the structure of their mouth, not their living arrangements. While they will feed up off bottom and even from the surface, generally speaking they are most efficient rummaging the bottom for crustaceans, mollusks, and insect larvae. They hoover up what seems like food, sift out the parts that actually are, and the rest either goes out through their gill rakers or is spit directly from their mouth. Once they do that, food items move back towards their throat, where if necessary they use their pharyngeal teeth to crush it before swallowing (think molars in their throat, pretty well describes it). Works the same whether it's a lake, river, or reservoir. Having said all that, I need to ask some questions here. What sort of rig are you fishing, other than a hook, obviously? I don't want to work from assumptions. How large or small a sinker? How much line between the hook and the sinker? Are you fishing on a tight line or a slack line? I ask because the information adds to the discussion.

This is also the first time I have seen deep hooking prevention as a reason for larger hooks, though I may have missed other posts here and elsewhere explaining the logic of it. Fishing with bait is inherently dangerous simply because of its' nature, we're presenting actual food items to fish often in a manner which gives them time, in many instances, to actually decide to swallow what they ate. There are quite a few different ways to avoid it as much as possible, but this is the first instance I have seen that advocates larger hooks as a viable method.

in fly fishing you have dry fly hooks which are light wire
nymph or wet fly or you have streamer hooks which are heavy wire hooks and some times they will specifie like 2x heavy

Hey guys, not a carp fisherman here but have a question that I hope fits your discussion.

Is there a way to look at a hook and tell if it`s forged or not? I have straightened out more than one or two hooks in my fishing and thats with lite line. #6-#8 pound. Would love to be able to remove that happening from my fishing trips. Always guessed it was cheap heat treating of the steel.

I did, actually, when I first started going specifically for carp, and they worked pretty well. The one thing I did notice (maybe it's just me on this) was that the offset circle hooks didn't work nearly as well, and often required me to actually set the hook to get them sunk, where the inline ones were locked in right from the get go, no hooksetting necessary. They work really well with the hair rigs, too. With nothing on the hook at all, they can't help but find a lip to grab. Or a finger, palm, pant leg ......

Most of them on the American market have flat sides instead of a round cross-section. Some are marked on the package as either forged or tempered, usually meaning they were heat treated after the bending process. Not 100% foolproof, but a rough guide.

Has anyone tried circle hooks for carp? I have yet to use them for carp but have noticed a reduction in gut hooks when fishing live bait for other species. Tom

Posted By Pegsguy on 09 Jun 2010 03:47 PM
Has anyone tried circle hooks for carp? I have yet to use them for carp but have noticed a reduction in gut hooks when fishing live bait for other species. Tom

the answer is yes, have they worked, yes. BUT I have found that a circle hood is Not designed to hook up in a carps mouth, A common carp mouth for instance, does not have the grissel like material such as a catfish, but it is designed to suck and blow such as a filtering system. As shown with the picture below at a semi full extension, there really is not place to hook up IMHO. As for will they work, heck yeah, but if your worrie is about a GUT hook, then might I suggest you try to tie a Hair rig? You can either google the hair rig or By Clicking here to view my how to on it. Hope this helps.