The Best Hook Size for Snook and Tarpon

Depending on the size of the bait and the size of the fish you are targeting, these are the top sizes of hooks I recommend.
2/0 Circle Hook for Snook from 8-18 inches
4/0 Circle Hook for Snook from 18-27 inches
6/0 or 7/0 Circle Hook for Snook from 27-35 inches
9/0 Circle hook for snook 35+ and tarpon using cut bait or live bait.
The important thing to remember is that you need to make sure that you use the right size hook for the bait and fish you will be trying to catch.

A lot of the time you can catch Snook and Tarpon with Smaller hooks however there would be issues to doing so.

I strongly feel that the hook size shouldn’t be bigger then the bait your using for example if you have a small bait fish about 2 inches you wouldn’t want to use a 5/0 Circle hook for one your likely gonna kill the bait fish and then you could lose your chances of a snook or tarpon being interested in your bait.

Don’t get me wrong some times snook and tarpon are lazy and don’t mind but other days I’ve seen them feeding aggressively.

It’s also important that if you do plan to use a live bait fish like Striped Morraja which can be found the shore line near the beaches, Finger mullet tend to hang around the shore line as well just depends on location I’ve seen them more at night then I do the day time in places I’ve fished, Swimming Crabs which typically these are crabs that range anywhere from as small as a bean to as big as golf ball.

Now Snook and Tarpon seem to have days where they prefer one bait over another in my view, like Snook will eat white baits and live shrimp and crabs, where as a Tarpon doesn’t seem to care much for shrimp but they will each the same stuff Snook will.

Both Snook and Tarpon like cut bait as well like, Mullet and Ladyfish I’ve found that Big Snook some times prefer the head of a mullet but so do Grouper.

The reason these fish like the cut mullet and Ladyfish is because of their color and the oil scent they put off in the water depending on the cut bait size it looks to a Snook or a Tarpon as a food they eat and they assume its alive normally because its moving in the water with the currant.