Sea fishing hook size chart

Usually, hooks used for sea fishing are much larger than hooks used for fresh water fishing.

Picture of carp (left) and cod (cod) mouth. It is easy to see, that cod's mouth is few times bigger than carp mouth with the same size of the fish body.

This can be explained by the difference in the fish sizes and the difference in the fish habit. Fresh water fishes are usually smaller and theirs mouths are smaller. Furthermore, the behaviour of most of the sea fishes are more wild and they pay less attention to the artificial hook.

There is no world accepted standard on the strict definition of the sea fishing hook sizes. Different companies have their own sea fishing hook size chart, which can be slightly different from brand to brand. The difference between the hook's gap between different manufacturer can achieve 25%. For small hooks the difference in sizes can achieve almost 50%! Also the hook's shank length can be any, and there is no world accepted classification exists for describing it.

The large sea fishing hooks are numbered from 1/0 (“one aught”) to 20/0. Larger hooks are usually custom made and not classified.

Picture of a 27/0 fishing hook, manufactured by Mustad.

The biggest mass produced fishing hooks is 27/0 Mustad hook for shark fishing.

How to buy properly sized hook

When choosing proper sea fishing hook sizes for the next fishing event, always think about the size of the fish mouth and the feeding habits of the fish you plan to catch. Very small hook will easily slip away from the mouth, but too big hook with be ignored by the fish.

Table with sizes of fishing hooks

Sizes of fishing hooks	width in cm	width in inch
1/0	1.80	0.71
2/0	1.90	0.75
3/0	2.00	0.79
4/0	2.10	0.83
5/0	2.20	0.87
6/0	2.40	0.94
7/0	2.70	1.06
8/0	3.00	1.18
9/0	3.60	1.42
10/0	4.00	1.57
11/0	4.50	1.77
12/0	5.00	1.97
13/0	5.50	2.17
14/0	6.00	2.36
20/0	11.38	4.48
27/0	21.90	8.63

In the table below you can find the optimal fishing hook size for different sea water fishes. This table should be a rough guideline for you, when you will select fishing gear for the next fishing event.

Fish species	Average size of the fish	Size of fishing hook
Dab	8 oz-1 lb	1/0
Plaice	1 lb	1/0 – 2/0
Cod	10 lb	1/0 – 5/0
Dogfish	2 lb	1/0 – 3/0
Mackerel	1 lb	1/0 – 2/0
Ballan Wrasse	4 lb	1/0 – 3/0
Conger eel	20 lb	6/0 – 8/0
Ling	20 lb	6/0 – 8/0
Black grouper	50 lb	10/0 – 14/0
Marlin	800 lb	16/0 - 20/0
White Shark	2000 lb	27/0