What size hooks are best for catching tarpon?
A 5/0 hook is the best size hook for catching tarpon. That hook size is perfect for hooking all of the tarpon's favorites like finger mullet or large threadfin herring, ladyfish, pin fish, crabs or silver and striped mullet without affecting their swimming abilities too much.
Tarpon can get pretty big and the 5/0 circle hook has landed tarpon for me from 24 inches long all of the way up to nearly 6 feet long. Believe me when I tell you that a stout 5/0 circle hook is the best all around hook size for different sized tarpon.
We will cover lots of different tarpon fishing scenarios in this article so that you have the best size hook for each scenario. We will cover the hook sizes when you are fishing with live bait, dead bait and lures.
I am a FISHING CHARTER CAPTAIN. I have been fishing the grass flats, oyster bars and mangroves all over Florida for more than 40 years.
In the article below, we will talk about the best size hook to catch tarpon with different bait choices.
Let's get started.
Watch the video below to learn more about the best hook sizes for tarpon.
A 5/0 hook is the best size hook for catching tarpon. That hook size is perfect for hooking all of the tarpon's favorites like finger mullet or large threadfin herring, ladyfish, pin fish, crabs or silver and striped mullet without affecting their swimming abilities too much.
Tarpon can get pretty big and the 5/0 circle hook has landed tarpon for me from 24 inches long all of the way up to nearly 6 feet long. Believe me when I tell you that a stout 5/0 circle hook is the best all around hook size for different sized tarpon.
We will cover lots of different tarpon fishing scenarios in this article so that you have the best size hook for each scenario. We will cover the hook sizes when you are fishing with live bait, dead bait and lures.
I am a FISHING CHARTER CAPTAIN. I have been fishing the grass flats, oyster bars and mangroves all over Florida for more than 40 years.
In the article below, we will talk about the best size hook to catch tarpon with different bait choices.
Let's get started.
Watch the video below to learn more about the best hook sizes for tarpon.
What is the best size hook for tarpon fishing with live bait?
Crabs:
Crabs are an excellent bait choice when you are targeting hungry tarpon. Tarpon feed on crabs, shrimp, marine worms, all sorts of different fish and even smaller tarpon. Yes they are cannibals too.
If you can get your hands on some palm sized pass crabs or blue crabs, then you have an excellent chance of scoring a big tarpon. This is especially true if you are fishing in some inlet or big channel during the outgoing parts of the tide.
The outgoing tide will often sweep up crabs, shrimp and fish from their inshore hiding spots and pull them out to sea. The tarpon know this and will wait for the tide to bring them something to eat without using too much energy.
You will want to hook your 5/0 in line circle hook in the corner of the carapace of the crabs. The crabs will swim on the top of the water column most of the time so you will often get to see an amazing top water slam as the tarpon engulfs you bait.
There is nothing better than hearing the drag scream as a monster tarpon skyrockets out of the water over and over again trying to throw the hook. They are an amazing fish species for sure!
If your crab is sort of beaten up and wants to sink, then you can add a popping cork and 4 feet of leader to keep the crab in the upper part of the water column. The bobber will not bother the tarpon most of the time.
The best time to fish for tarpon with crabs is usually the mornings and sunset. Those low light scenarios are when predators prefer to hunt but you can catch them in the middle of the day sometimes.
BUT I believe that your best chance to find and land a personal best tarpon will be in the mornings.
PRO TIP: Tarpon breathe atmospheric air as well as dissolved oxygen in the water. There is no photosynthesis during the night time so they need to gulp air more in the mornings. In other words, the mornings are best for sight fishing gulping tarpon because they have to gulp air to supplement their oxygen needs.
I created a FREE online tarpon fishing course that covers the best hooks, baits, lures, tackle......... to help you catch more tarpon. You can access this online course right on this same website by clicking right here.
Live White Baits:
White baits are a general term for any small silvery bait. These baits include scaled sardines, threadfin herring, menhaden........ A four or five inch white bait can handle a 5/0 circle hook but if you are using smaller baits then you may want to downsize to a 3/0 circle hook.
The key is to keep the baits swimming as naturally as possible in spite of having a hook in them. The tarpon will sense their distress and smell their blood and hone in on your baits.
They will send out those low frequency vibrations that will attract tarpon from many yards away. Most fish have a better sense of smell than a bloodhound so they can often smell your bait from many yards away down tide from where you are fishing.
WANT TO CATCH A TARPON? BOOK YOUR FISHING CHARTER TODAY!
It is all about using the least amount of hook that you can get away with so your bait presentation is as natural as possible. If the hook is so big that the bait is just floating there, then you won't catch very many tarpon.
When I am fishing for tarpon with live baits I will use a popping cork set up of some sort. That set up is just too efficient for catching tarpon and controlling where your bait is in the water column.
Tarpon are usually not very bobber shy but a longer leader is usually your best bet. It is not uncommon for me to use a 4 or 5 foot leader when fishing for tarpon. If you are fishing from a kayak then it will be extremely hard to cast your bait with a leader that long so you may have to shorten it a little
Watch the video below to see how much fun dead bait fishing for tarpon in a tidal creek can be.
Live Mullet:
Tarpon love to eat mullet. A large tarpon can gulp down a 15 inch mullet without any problems at all. Mullet are one of their favorite foods which is why lures that mimic a mullet are great for catching tarpon. Any 4 to 8 inch soft plastic lure with a paddle tail will catch a ton of tarpon.
PRO TIP: When you are trolling or drifting live mullet always hook them in the mouth. If you hook them by the tail, they won't look right and they will die when you drag them backwards through the water.
Quite often I will catch live mullet and put my 5/0 circle hooks in their tails when I am not trolling. This keeps the mullet on or near the surface of the water and leads to some amazing strikes. If you hook them in the mouth when you are anchored, then the bait will tend to go deeper in the water column and you won't see the strikes.
Mullet are one of those bait fish that are best controlled with a bobber of some sort. Mullet are high energy fish and will swim you around structure if there is any close to where you are fishing.
The bobber does two very important things for you. Number one; it helps you keep track of where your bait is. Number two; it slows down your mullet to help the tarpon eat it more effectively.
I am always amazed that a professional predator, that has lived on the planet for 400 million years, that has a mouth the size of a 5 gallon bucket, can miss a mullet tied to a fishing pole with a hook in it. That is one of the most frustrating parts of tarpon fishing with live mullet.
I definitely suggest getting good at rigging up a bobber and leader when you fish for tarpon with live bait.
Live Ladyfish:
The ladyfish is a cousin of the tarpon. If you have ever caught a ladyfish you will see that they share many of the same fighting characteristics.
The will always jump out of the water to shake the hook out of their mouths and they have the same bony mouths that their tarpon cousins have. This makes them extremely hard to hook. Many anglers call them the poor man's tarpon because of these similarities.
BUT they are worth going after if you have a decent sized live well when you are targeting tarpon. Tarpon love to eat their poor little cousins the ladyfish.
You will fish them just like you did with a live mullet. If you are trolling with a ladyfish, then you will hook them in the mouth with a stout 5/0 circle hook. If you are anchored, then you will want to hook them in the tail so that they will stay in the upper part of the water column.
Ladyfish are extremely fun to catch. Often times, on my fishing charters, a client will choose to stay and catch ladyfish when we find a school of them instead of searching for speckled trout and redfish. They really are a blast to catch if you have never caught them before.
What is the best size hook for tarpon fishing with dead bait?
Yes, I said dead bait. Many anglers do not realize that big fish will often take a dead bait offering over a live bait offering. Those big fish are the older and wiser fish.
Those old fish have figured out that it is better to use the least amount of energy to obtain the calories they need to stay alive. They will almost always choose a fresh dead bait offering instead of a live bait offering because they don't want to waste any energy chasing around a live one.
Dead Mullet:
Some fish like to eat the heads of a mullet the best. These include snook and tarpon BUT speckled trout and redfish seem to prefer the body of the mullet better. That is just what I have found when fishing with dead mullet inshore.
You will need to use a big piece of mullet. I like to use a 6 inch chunk of mullet if I am targeting those bigger tarpon. I consider a bigger tarpon to be 3 feet to 6 feet in length.
My favorite sized tarpon are 3 to 4 feet in length. Those tarpon will give you all of the amazing jumps and drag pulling runs that the big boys will but they will tire out in 10 or 15 minutes.
The big 6 foot, 100 plus pound tarpon will fight you for 30 minutes to an hour and wear both of you down so much that you will want to take a break after catching one. Then you will have to take another 15 or 20 more minutes to revive the tarpon so they don't sink to the bottom and die after you unhook them.
Imagine that you just ran a bunch of wind sprints and someone through you into a pool. That's what the tarpon feels like.
PRO TIP: It is extremely important to revive your tarpon after you fight them for a long time. Tarpon will literally fight to the death so you will have to take the time to get your tarpon fully oxygenated before releasing them.
Their bodies will fill with lactic acid after a long fight. This makes it hard for them to swim. They will also be depleted of oxygen. Your job is to release them to fight another day.
Let's get back to why you need to use giant baits. The reason that you need a large piece of bait is to stop the bait stealers from taking your fresh dead mullet. There is nothing that you can do about crabs chewing on it but the catfish is the main villain when it comes to bait stealing.
You have to make sure that your bait is too big for a sail catfish to eat. This means that it has to be a 6 inch piece or larger. Believe me when I tell you that even a little 24 inch tarpon can eat a 6 inch piece of mullet. It is like a potato chip to the big 100 plus pound ones.
Many anglers make the mistake of using 3 or 4 inch pieces of dead bait to make the mullet divide into more baits but that is a rookie mistake. Go big or you will catch a ton of catfish or worse STINGRAYS.
PRO TIP: Always use circle hooks when you are fishing with dead bait. You will catch more fish and you won't gut hook or harm as many fish. The hook will find a place to grab right in the corner of the tarpon's mouth. This will make it easier to release them too. Circle hooks are the way to go for all dead bait fishing applications.
Watch the video below to see another fun day of tarpon fishing from a kayak.
Dead Mullet Cont'd:
Tarpon can be found on the grass flats and in shallow water sometimes but they prefer to be in or near a deeper water channel of some sort.
This might be a channel that has been dredged out like a canal or inlet or just a creek mouth with enough current to naturally dredge out the area with strong tides.
The bottom line is that really big tarpon are usually found in deeper water near the edges of a grass flat or near mangroves or around tidal creek mouths or inlets.
The great thing about tarpon is they like to hang out with each other. There are usually at least a handful of them hanging out together. Sometimes there can be dozens of them so you can catch many fish in the same spot when the bite is on.
Dead Lady Fish:
Lady fish is another great bait for fishing for big tarpon. They are stinky and delicious to speckled trout, snook, redfish, grouper, sharks and tarpon. So if you can get some fresh lady fish then you can catch a ton of different fish.
Just remember that the big tarpon like the head and the body of the ladyfish. A perfect sized ladyfish to me is 12 inches long. That size bait requires you to cut off the tail and put a slice in the belly so the stomach gases don't expand and make it float.
You will want to use the 5/0 circle hooks and use chunks of lady fish at least 6 inches long to cut down on the catfish catch. Because, yes they love to eat dead ladyfish too.
There is really no difference in fishing techniques with a lady fish and a mullet but they are great substitutes for each other if you have problems finding one or the other.
Conclusion:
Choosing the proper hook size based on your bait sizes and target species size is a really big deal. Larger game fish require larger hooks. Larger baits require larger hooks. It is really as simple as that.
You will definitely need to choose your hook size wisely if you want to maximize your next tarpon fishing adventure. The great thing about fishing for tarpon is that they have a huge mouth and can eat huge baits. That is why you really only need one hook size when targeting tarpon from 2 feet to 6 feet and larger. That hook size is the 5/0 in line circle hook.
I will only use circle hooks when I am fishing with live bait or dead bait because they are so much more efficient for catching fish and they do much less harm to the fish. It is very rare that a fish will get gut hooked with a circle hook but it happens all of the time with a J hook.
You will also want to use a non stainless steel hook too. Stainless steel will stay in the fish for many years or for its entire life in some circumstances. BUT a rust away hook will rust out within a few weeks.
There is no sense harming the fish any more than you have to so use the proper hooks that do the least amount of damage to the fish. That way we can all have many more fish to catch in the coming years.
I hope this article helps you catch a ton more fish or at the very least have more fun trying.
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