Last week we kicked off our master class on advanced bead fishing for rainbow trout with a great post on matching the egg-hatch courtesy of Rapids Camp Lodge guide, Alaska West alum, and certified bead ninja, Rob Rymph.
Today, Rob is back with some great advice for choosing the appropriate hook size for the bead at hand.
Enjoy!
Bead Fishing for Trout: Matching Bead to Hook Size
When bead fishing for trout, another helpful hint many people overlook is correctly matching the size of your hook to the size of your bead. When pegged correctly, as the bead is pulled out of the fish’s mouth during the hook set, the hook below will follow the same trajectory. Therefore, larger beads require larger hook gaps to set safely into the outside corner of the fish’s mouth. Large beads can block small hooks from a good hook set, causing them to pop out every time!
So, as a general rule of thumb..
- Use size 8 hooks when fishing 4mm or smaller beads.
- Use size 6 hooks when fishing 6 mm beads.
- Use size 4 hooks when fishing 8 mm beads.
- Use size 2 hooks when fishing 10mm or larger beads.
Keep in mind the rules above are suggestions, with some overlap possible depending on the average size fish for a particular body of water. Regardless, we consider fishing anything larger than a size 2 hook for rainbow trout to be sacrilegious. Please fish responsibly!
Could you tell me what brand and model of hook you prefer for fishing with beads?