I saw a guy in the next swim catch 6 or 7 decent carp a couple of weeks ago, and when I netted a couple of fish for him, I saw that the hooks he was using were huge!
Although i didn't ask him, they looked to be much bigger than the 6's and 5's that I normally use and if I had to guess, id say that they were at least size 2 wide gapes, which were being fished slip d style with a small barrel shaped wafter of around 12 or 13mm.
It obviously worked for him, but I didn't and still dont understand the reason for such a big hook?
What advantages do they offer over more "normal" sized hooks?

In reply to Post #1
Are you sure he wasn't just using size 12 long shank wide gapes?

Jokes aside there is an awful lot of hook to grab hold fishing like that.
I've seen it work for people in the past using big hooks and small baits.

In reply to Post #1
Jokes aside there is an awful lot of hook to grab hold fishing like that.
I've seen it work for people in the past using big hooks and small baits.

Exactly that, big hooks and small baits works very well imo

Funnily enough I was looking at some size 2's the last time I was in the tackle shop & thinking to myself that they don't look all that big really in relation to the size of a carps mouth.

If you can get away with it then it seems logical that a bigger hook will offer more benefits.

I tend to use size 4's for the vast majority of my carp fishing but I may have a dabble with the 2's at some point in the near future.

I caught a carp on a size 1xx wide gape last week while fishing for cats. It was a great hook hold

I caught an 8 oz rudd on a size 4 hook with an 18mm bottom bait and a 15mm trimmed pop up. If they are having it , they are having it

In reply to Post #6
That was one hell of a hungry rudd!

In reply to Post #1
Contrary to popular belief Carp don't actually know the difference in hook sizes . . .

So go large!