Exploitation of specialised fisheries resources: The importance of hook size in recreational angling for large common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.)

Little is known about the influence of hook size on fishing success, hooking performance and injury associated with recreational angling for large freshwater fish such as common carp (Cyprinius carpio L.). Yet, such information is crucial in the context of the management and conservation of these highly valuable specialised fisheries resources. We compared two different sizes of conventional carp hooks (small, size 6, and large, size 1) baited with corn and found that small hooks caught more and larger carp at similar landing rates. Moreover, small hooks caused less tissue damage compared to large hooks. However, there was no evidence that small hooks reduced incidences of bleeding. For both hook sizes, most carp were hooked in the lower jaw (size 1: 81%; size 6: 64%) and the side of the mouth (size 1: 16%; size 6: 36%), and not a single fish out of 88 fish landed was hooked deeply in vital organs. These results suggest that more widespread use of small size hooks in carp fisheries might be promoted for conservation, fish welfare and angling quality reasons.