Hello, my name is Darren.
At one point in my life I had the same question that you are trying to find the answer for now. Rest assured I will do my best to explain to you what I have learned in my years of Striper fishing. I have had success catching striped bass and at first it can be confusing because you may hear different things from different people. There is good reason for this. Not all Striper are the same. Maybe you didn’t know this but it’s true. I will explain in this article how you can figure out what type and what size hook you should use wherever you are fishing.
Before we get started, though there are a few things that you have to take into consideration. The first thing being are you fishing in the ocean or in Inlet close to the ocean? This makes a big difference because some stripers actually come into fresh water from the sea and depending on their age and what they have been eating they can be very large.
So you have to consider the fact that you might hook into a cow and then question whether you want her to snap your line or not. I assume you do not want that to happen so you are going to have to prepare for that. Then you have to balance that with the idea that even though you are fishing off the shore or in inlet of the ocean, most of the fish that you were after may not be huge.
So you don’t want to go to big with the hook if you want to ensure that you are going to catch fish. In this article we will explain what type of hook you should use mostly based off of the weight of the fish you think you will be catching.
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If you are fishing for smaller stripers in the 18 inch range, using a 1 ounce sliding wait, the swivel, 8 pound leader, and about a one or two ought hook is the way to go. You can use this hook for live bait such as shad or bluegill, or you can use it for frozen bait such as sardines or anchovies. This is the type of set up that is used on Lake Mead in Nevada and lake Powell in utah. Of course everything varies but for the most part this is the type of set up you will see in the south west. Lake pleasant in Arizona would use this type of set up as well. It’s not because it’s in the south west it’s because of the size of fish so if you are fishing for 18 to 20 inch fish this could be the set up for you. When I fish for stripers at lake mead Nevada, I usually use a 2/ bait hook with 12lb test, a 1 oz slider weight and a snap swivel between the hook leader and my 12lb fishing line. This seems to do the trick every time for me at this lake. I have used the same set up for many years. That leg gets very hot in the summertime and you don’t really want to be out in the sun in the day it will just eat you up so most people who fish there in the summer go at night and use the same set up that I just mentioned with frozen anchovies. We knock him dead all night long with a few catfish in between being caught as well. Some of the best striped bass hooks can be found here.
Let’s say you are going for bigger fish such as 20 to 30 inches, using something like air four ought hook would probably be more desirable because if you hook into a big fish you are going to need that extra strength and the bigger hook to bring her in. If you go into small of a hook you could have a problem with the fish bending the hook and getting off. 4/ hook is a safe bet for fish in that size. Where these fish you may be using current bait, or larger live bait like mackerel or something like that. Small bunker could be used as well.
On larger striper you are definitely going to want to use a very strong and larger hook. You will most likely catch fewer fish but they will be much larger if you use whole live bait like bunker fish or eel or something. You need to be prepared to catch 35 to 40 inch striper so you are going to want a much heavier leader a bigger weight and your hook size is going to be seven ought to 10 ought. Make sure you don’t confuse this with number seven to number 10 it’s a whole different sizing structure are used for trout and other small game fish. Seven ought is written like this on the package 7/ and not #7. Hey suggestion would be to watch a few YouTube videos on the lake or river or ocean that you are fishing and see how they are doing it. If they are catching fish then that is a good idea for you to set up your rig similar to what they are doing. If you are off one size it probably won’t matter that much but the set ups can be hugely different depending on how your fishing and what date you’re using and what size fish you were after and that all depends on where you are.
Now we are going to Talk about sacred cows. If you are going for anything larger than 40 inches you’re going to really need to make sure that you have your set up well thought out. To be honest I recommend having someone with you to show you how to do it because you don’t want to lose one of these monsters. Anyway, if you’re going to go off on your own I would use something around nine or 10 ought hook for these bad boys.
Striper fishing with circle hooks- until now we have been talking about bait hooks. Circle hooks or a similar type of hook used for catching striper with live bait. Supposedly they are supposed to look in the corner of the lip more easily and help you to have less fish that get away. Some fishermen swear by them and in some areas it is even require that you use them because they are apparently less dangerous for the fish.
Best hooks for striper fishing So what are the best hooks for striper fishing? Although some Lewers that we use have trouble hooks on them for the most part we are staying away from trouble hooks because they killed far too many fish. We prefer to fish with circle hooks or bait hooks. Some people might call them worm hooks.
What hooks for striped bass- i’d say overwhelmingly bait hooks with the double bar on the back of the shank and with a Barb at the tip are definitely the most common.
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Conclusion: I have tried to give you the strangest answer I could when it comes to hooks for striped bass. As you can tell by the article it just depends. It depends on what size fish you are after and what type of bait you are going to be using. Suffice it to say that if you are going for smaller fish you will need a smaller bait hook. I would use something in the number 1 to 2ought size. If you’re anticipating catching fish that are larger like around 30 inch then you may want to consider using a size 7, 8, 9, or 10 ought hook. Anything bigger than that and you want to stick with 9, 10, 11, or even 12 ought hooks.
I hope this helps you to be able to plan for a good fishing trip. I hope you have fun and I hope you catch a lot of fish. With this information hopefully you will do better and be able to land a real cow of a striped bass.
