Hook size for sailfish

[renner]

I was wondering what people are using for circle hook size for sailfish, Today i lost 3 fish, each time spitting my 3/0 gomatsu circle hook in mid fight, should i go smaller it seemed as if they were,nt getting to the hook or should I go bigger, yesterday i got three to the boat 2- on 4/0 circle hooks and one on a 3/0 circle hook, any help would be great, thanks

[Reel Boobs]

6/0 Owner Circle Hooks. Use a full 5 second drop-back, and then come tight without setting the hook. Works 70%+ for me. Good luck!

[Bullshipper]

On the west coast 6/0-10/0 is what I use with live bait. Bigger is better if the bait will take it.

[Jack Hexter]

My go to hook for South Florida sails (where I fish them) is an Eagle Claw 7/0 L2004ELF Lazer Sharp, Sea Guard hook In Miami and north of there, we fish them on 20# line, in the Keys, we drop down to 12#. When in the keys, we use live ballyhoo and hitch a small (#10) rubber band to the hook and then thread the band thru the baits lower jaw with an open eye rigging needle. After it's thru the jaw, the needle is removed and the band is brought over the bill, with the hook riding down. In Miami, where Goggle Eyes, speedo's or big scaled sardines are used, a loop of rigging floss is hitched to the hook and the bait bridled with the floss, leaving about 1" between the bait and the hook. This allows the circle to turn and do it's job.

In either location, when using J hooks, I prefer an Owner Aki 5/0

[renner]

Thanks all for the info,I guess I am going to experiment with some larger circle hooks.I did notice that a good offset circle hook works much better than a straight- no off set, a lot of guys here in Islamorada are using 3/0 live bait hooks, they seem so small and short shanked to me.

[Tireless]

You can drop down to #4 (4X) treble hooks if you really want to make it sporting. I have caught two while trolling for kings.

[reelbytes]

I use 7/0 Eagle Claw or Penn circles on kites and 4/0 or 5/0 live bait J hooks with ballyhoo. These seem to work for me...

[alice]

6/0 and 7/0 Eagle Claw Circle hooks for sails, 10/0 Mustad Circle hooks for marlin