Carp Hooks come in all different shapes and sizes in Barbed, Micro Barbed and Barbless. Most barbed hooks now though come under the Micro barbed category. There are fores and against for using a barbed hook against a barbless hook. Some people say that a barbed hook causes more damage to the fish than a barbless hook. Then some people say a barbed hook stays in place better and firmer once you've hooked a fish where a barbless hook will keep twisting and moving so tearing the hole it made bigger. I think the main reason most lakes opt for a Barbless hook rule is because of the wide spectrum of the anglers ability that will be fishing on their waters. I believe they will look at it as a barbless hook is easier to remove no matter what your skill level is at fishing.

Your Hook must be treated like your best friend, in other words if you look after it and always check it's in good health and sharp it will lead to more fish in the bank. I have so many people that come into my shop saying that they are being done by the carp or they are bumping fish off and they don't know why. But when you look at their rigs and see the hook there using seems blunt or the point is slightly turned over it's not hard to see why. Also I have people using a size 8 hook with a 20mm hook bait because they say the carp wont pick a bait up with a big hook on it. They might not but god knows how a carp knows a size 4 hook to a size 8 hook or is it, the fish is picking up your bait but the hook is to small compared to the hook bait to catch hold in it's mouth.

I personally will happily use a 15mm hook bait with a size 4 hook and for those of you that say but the fish will see it, just look at where the eyes are on a carp at the sides of its head where as our eyes are at the front. When a carp come into feed when it's that close to you hookbait it can't see it unless its more side on, then it must of gone to carp school to be taught it's a size 4 wide gape hook waiting to catch it. I'm not saying carp can't be clever but I believe there a lot of scaremongering by the companies on why you should be using there hooks.

I personally use a Wide Gape Hook like the Nash Fang Twister because I feel there's more chance of that catching hold in the mouth and they are very strong due to their shape, but I always use a kicker to help the hook turn fast and catch hold in the mouth. Over the last couple of years I have favored the Nash Claw Hook as it has a slightly interned point and and it's shape has help with the hook hold. I wen't for and interned point it's a bit harder for it to blunt on gravel where as the Twister hook has a straight point and can be blunted easier.

Curve Shank hooks are also very popular especially when used with the Ronnie, Spinner and Chod Rigs. When using a curve shank hook, if you do use any type of kicker make sure it's not too long because you could close the gape of the hook down reducing the efficiency of they hook.

Long Shank hooks aren't as popular but they can be very effective in certain fishing situations. Just be mindful though that the longer the shank of a hook the more chance of damaging the Carps mouth.

Here at CPS Tackle we Stock hooks from a lot of the top named companies in carp fishing like, Nash, Fox, ESP, Thinking Anglers, Gardner and others. If your unsure about the hooks to use you could always get in touch for some advice.

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