Tuna Hook Size for Live Bait, Chunks, Lures and Jigs

Tuna hook size follows the bait, the lure and the fishery. Yellowfin generally take 6/0 to 10/0 circle hooks, dropping to 2/0 to 4/0 on light live baits for fish under 50 pounds and stepping up to 11/0 and larger behind the fall shrimp boats in the Gulf of Mexico. Giant bluefin get an 11/0 or 12/0 heavy live bait circle, sized to roll around the jaw hinge. Lure and jig hooks fit the lure.

I was aboard for every shoot this article draws from: the herring boats off Nova Scotia, the porpoise schools off Costa Rica, the rigs and shrimp boats out of Venice, Louisiana, and the ledges off Kona. Hooks are one link in a chain that our pillar on catching yellowfin tuna offshore covers end to end.

Bigger fish do not mean bigger hooks. The hook that landed a 1,400 pound bluefin on our Nova Scotia shoot has the profile of an 8/0 circle.

What Size Hook for Yellowfin Tuna?

Yellowfin tuna hooks are generally 6/0 to 10/0 circles. Smaller fish under 50 pounds on light live baits like sardines or small chunks take 2/0 to 4/0, and fish over 100 pounds typically get 6/0 to 8/0. Size the hook to the bait first, on 60 to 80 pound fluorocarbon.

Venice, Louisiana: two seasons, two hook sizes

Josh Howard fishes the Mustad 39950 circle, the hook most Venice crews run. In mid-May, live chumming pogies for 40 to 80 pound yellowfin, he ran 6/0 hooks on 60 pound fluorocarbon and broke off nothing all day.

In the fall, when the yellowfin move in behind the shrimp boats, everything goes up. His standard is an 11/0 on 130 pound fluorocarbon, 7/0 is his minimum, and he goes to 15/0 when big white trout show in the bycatch. The reason is not strength. At 30 to 40 pounds of drag a small hook tears a hole, and a big hook grabs more mouth. His fall approach is laid out in chunking big yellowfin behind Venice shrimp boats.

The Bahamas and Costa Rica

The Bahamas crews we filmed carry one hook for everything: the heavy-wire Owner Mutu circle, 3/0 in pilchards and 4/0 or 5/0 in goggle eyes, straight out of the box, for fish averaging 40 to 60 pounds. The captains won't fish the light-wire version. Off Costa Rica, Mike Hennessy runs a 7/0 Mustad Ultra Point Demon circle as the size that fits goggle eyes, blue runners and threadfin.

Where the common advice breaks

The usual fix for finicky tuna is a lighter leader. Howard downsizes the bait and the hook first. On one fall day the fish ignored his big baits; switching to a 7/0 and smaller baits got bites on both 130 and 80 pound leader. In his words, they cared less about line size than bait size. And for fish over 100 pounds, the common 6/0 to 8/0 range is his floor, not his ceiling: behind the shrimp boats he starts at 11/0.

What Size Hook for Bluefin Tuna?

Bluefin tuna hooks are small for the size of the fish and very heavy in the wire. The Nova Scotia crew we filmed fishes the Gamakatsu Heavy Duty Live Bait Circle in 11/0 and 12/0 on 250 pound fluorocarbon, for live and dead herring alike. School bluefin on artificials take inline singles sized to the lure.

On the water off Nova Scotia

Andy Moyes started with much bigger hooks and stopped getting bites. He then tested Owner, Mustad and Eagle Claw before settling on the Gamakatsu, the only hook that did not break. His reasoning for the 11/0 is specific. A smaller hook cut through the jaw hinge instead of rolling around it, missed fish, and the hooks bent or broke. A bigger one added enough weight to change how a down bait sank.

He crimps the 250 pound fluorocarbon with the loop pulled tight against the hook eye so it holds the hook's shape and cannot stretch flat and break at the bend, then blacks out the crimp with a marker. Anything that shines, he says, gets refused.

Circle Hooks or J Hooks for Tuna?

Circle hooks for tuna are the standard for live bait and chunks because they roll into the corner of the jaw and rarely gut-hook. Trolling lures, stickbaits and jigs use J-style singles, inline singles or trebles. Federal rules for Atlantic highly migratory species require circle hooks in some situations, so check NOAA Fisheries before you fish.

Every bait captain in our catalog fishes circles, and Howard puts about 95 percent of his fish in the corner of the mouth. On lures, Shawn Rotella trolls heavy J-style hooks off Kona, and the Bahamas crews troll small feathers on J hooks for skipjack. Even Moyes's bluefin hook has a little J style to it.

Matching the Hook to the Bait

Live baits

Where the hook goes matters as much as its size. Hennessy nose-hooks or bridles baits when the porpoise school is moving, so he can drag them back in front of the fish. He butt-hooks above the anal fin to send a bait straight down only when the tuna hold still under spinner dolphins, because that bait can't be repositioned. The Bahamas crews hook under the chin or belly to go down, the nose to stay up, and the pectoral fin to hide the hook.

Moyes adds what no other captain mentioned. Bluefin notice the sink rate of a bait, he says, more than the hook, line or leader. In current he nose-hooks; with fish boiling he hooks the side or back so the bait parachutes down like the free herring; with no current he feeds the leader by hand. More on matching baits to the school is in fishing live bait for yellowfin tuna.

Hennessy snells through the bottom of the eye so the point angles toward the line; rigged from the top, it can skate off the fish's face. For the biggest fish he bridles a 10/0 with seven inches of 80 pound braid, light enough to break out of the bait after the hookup.

Chunks and dead baits

Bury the hook. Howard slits an inch-and-a-half cube of bonito or blackfin and pushes the circle inside so it pulls free on the retrieve; a hook through the skin helicopters and twists mono into coils. The Bahamas crews cut sardines into thirds and hide the entire hook inside, with nothing showing but leader.

What Hooks Go on Tuna Trolling Lures?

Tuna trolling lure hooks are heavy single J-style hooks in skirted lures, rigged stiff so the fish hooks itself, and 4X trebles on diving plugs. Stock hooks on many lures are too light for tuna and need upgrading before the first trip.

Off Kona, a 700 to 800 pound blue marlin will eat Rotella's smallest lure, so every lure gets a beefy Quick Rig Koga hook, an open style rather than a curved southern tuna hook. For billfish alone he sets the hook far back in the skirt. For tuna he pulls it toward the head, because tuna hit the front. A tuna hooked in the snout, he says, is like towing a giant live bait.

Jason Gore rigs his hook sets on cable and keeps them stiff, so a striking fish just gets hooked. Hennessy keeps the rear treble on his diving minnows for short-biting tuna; a 279 pound bluefin came on one. A small-barbed single, he warns, can fall out after an hour-long fight. The full spreads are in running tuna trolling lures that raise fish.

Where the common advice breaks

Every tuna rig calls for a fluorocarbon leader. Hennessy clips bibbed lures to a swivel on 80 pound main line with no heavy leader at all, a method he calls "against my religion forever," and it has raised tuna to 200 pounds in Fiji. He gets more bites, and the occasional big tuna opens the swivel.

What Hooks Go on Stickbaits and Poppers for Tuna?

Stickbait hooks for tuna are inline singles or trebles on 100 to 200 pound split rings, sized so the lure still swims. Only through-wired lures hold up, because screw-in line ties and hook hangers pull out. Singles release fish more cleanly than trebles.

Sizing hooks to the lure

Seth Hartwick rigs his 120 gram skipjack popper with an Owner ST-66 4/0 treble, and it still floats. A 5/0 sinks it. One hook size too heavy and any casting lure sinks too fast and loses its tail kick, so check the maker's hook recommendation on the package. He runs 200 pound split rings on 120 gram lures and 100 pound on 30 gram stickbaits, never lighter, because tuna straighten them. On larger stickbaits he goes to a 6/0 Shout inline single.

Orientation is the step most anglers skip. The tail hook goes point up and the belly hook point toward the front of the lure, every time you re-rig.

Singles or trebles

Hartwick's line is fish size. Tuna of 200 pounds and up inhale the whole lure, and trebles in the gills make a safe release nearly impossible, so they get single hooks front and rear. On 50 to 200 pound fish, or fish you plan to keep, trebles are fine because the lure usually sits across the mouth. Bluefin always get two Shout Kudako inline singles in 5/0 or 6/0 unless the fish is going in the box. More on matching casting lures is in casting tuna lures to yellowfin and bluefin.

What Hooks Do You Use on Tuna Jigs?

Jig assist hooks for tuna are single or double assists on heavy Kevlar cord, usually 5/0 to 8/0 on jigs from 100 to 300 grams, rigged off the head of the jig on a solid ring and split ring. Match the hook to the width of the jig as well as its weight.

Hartwick drops 180 to 200 gram knife jigs 200 to 250 feet ahead of dolphin schools when yellowfin won't come up. He rigs a 6/0 Shout Kudako on 200 pound Kevlar, 5/0 on skinny jigs, with hook, jig and swivel on one 200 pound split ring. The hook bend sits at the top 30 percent of the jig, and a glow squid skirt goes on the assist; a skirted jig always outfishes a bare one for him. More vertical work is in our jigging fishing videos.

How Do You Set a Circle Hook on Tuna?

Setting a circle hook on tuna means not setting it. Let the fish turn away, ease the drag up to strike, and reel until the line comes tight. A hard hookset pulls the circle out of the mouth before it can roll into the corner.

Howard leaves the rod in the holder through the hookup, because lifting it gives slack before the hook penetrates. With a five-inch hardtail he waits two to three seconds; with a 12-inch mullet, until the fish takes off, then three to five more. Chunks are the exception: come tight as soon as the line moves. Wait too long and the fish gut-hooks, and its small, sharp teeth chew through the leader.

His strike drag is about 15 pounds on 60 to 80 pound leader, rising toward 20 to 25 after the first run; the textbook 30 percent of breaking strength is too much at the strike. Moyes adds that about three pounds of pressure starts a circle into the jaw.

Casting is different. Hennessy says tuna have hard mouths, so on a popper bite you jam on them two or three times before you let them run.

Frequently Asked Questions

Getting the Hook Right

No single rule sizes every tuna hook. Howard and Hennessy match the hook to the bait, Moyes sizes his to the bluefin's jaw, Rotella rigs every lure for the biggest marlin that might eat it, and Hartwick sizes his to the way the lure swims. The details decide whether you get a corner hookup or a pulled hook: Howard's 11/0 grabbing more mouth, Moyes's sink rate, Hennessy's snell direction, Hartwick's 4/0 treble that keeps a popper floating.

For the full rigs, baits and fishery-by-fishery tactics, browse our yellowfin tuna fishing videos.

For giants off Nova Scotia and school fish on topwater, start with our bluefin tuna fishing videos.

Seth Horne Founder and CEO