Hook size guide
The hook wall is where most beginners stop. Start from the fish instead, and the packet you want is one line of the table below. The two size scales look like a mistake and are not.
Bluegill and sunfish selected
The sizes are starting points, not laws. Bait size and local conditions push you a size up or down.
Aberdeen, sizes 8 to 12.
Bluegill and sunfish
The hook point should be visible but not buried inside the bait. Cannot see the point at all, and the hook is probably too small. Point sticking way out, and it is too big.
- Where beginners live
- As a beginner in freshwater you will live somewhere between size 6 and size 3/0. Anything smaller is for fly fishing and tiny bait, and anything bigger is for big saltwater fish.
The two scales
Hook sizes run on two scales that count in opposite directions, which is the whole reason the wall is confusing. They meet at size 1.
Numbers count down from 32, so a bigger number is a smaller hook
Aughts count up, so a bigger number is a bigger hook
Start from the bait, not the wall
The second way to choose: what is already on the end of your line decides the shape of the hook before the species does.
- Worms and natural bait
- Baitholder or Aberdeen The two shapes that hold a soft bait on the shank.
- Live bait such as minnows and shiners
- Circle hook or octopus hook Sized to the baitfish, with the point just visible.
- Soft plastics
- Wide-gap worm hook Matched to the bulk of the plastic, so the point clears it on the set.
- Lures
- Whatever single or treble hook came on the lure The lure was balanced around that hook. Change it and you change how the lure sits.
Every fish in the table
All seven rows the hook guide publishes, for the next time you are standing in the shop.
| Fish | Hook | Sizes |
|---|---|---|
| Bluegill and sunfish | Aberdeen | 8 to 12 |
| Perch | Aberdeen | 6 to 10 |
| Trout | Single hook | 10 to 14 |
| Walleye | Octopus or jig | 4 to 2/0 |
| Largemouth bass, plastics | Worm or wide-gap | 2/0 to 3/0 |
| Smallmouth bass | Worm hook | 2/0 to 3/0 |
| Channel catfish | Circle or baitholder | 2/0 to 5/0 |
Where this comes from
Every answer on this page is read from a guide that CastDepth has already published. The tool sorts and applies it, and the reasoning stays in the writing.
- Fishing Hooks Explained: Types, Sizes, and Which One to Use Hook shapes, the two size scales, and the hook that fits the bait you are holding.