I've been fishing these waters for well over 40 years and remember, when I was a kid, we used hooks as big as 3/0 for yellow belly fall spot and the big "hoss" croakers. My brother, who gets a lot of his information from the Carolina Outer Banks guys, says they say anything bigger than a No. 3 is oversized. The other day, we went bottom bouncing and caught a fair number of nice sized spot. I used No. 3 long shank hooks and he used these tiny little things that looked like fly fishing hooks. We both seemed to catch our fair share of fish although his hooks were pretty much shot at the end of the day. So question...WHAT HOOKS DO YOU USE TO CATCH FALL YELLOW BELLIES AND HOSS CROAKERS? I know this seems like a pretty lame subject but I am curious.

no 1 - 2/0

I use 1/0 and 2/0 long shanks. Much easier to dehook. Those big 'uns eat 'em with no problem. When I first started fishing for 'em eons ago, I used the tiny ones. Didn't take long to switch to the bigger long shanks - those little hooks are a PITA!

No. 1`s to no. 4`s is what I use...Not 1/0 or bigger.. I blasted the
spot 10/15 just outside L.C. inlet, was using no. 4 hooks with bloodworms.
Ran out of bait around 2 p.m. . These were all nice spot, but no yellow
bellies! Haven`t seen any yet. These were mostly no. 2`s with a few
12 oz. spots mixed in. Left with 80 !!! My neighbors are happy along
with my bride, spot is all she will eat!!

Capt.Skid

I use 1/4 oz jig heads. lol But when i used to bottom rig fish it was like 1 or 2/0 hooks. My dad and brother allways use smaller hooks, but they catch the smaller fish. haha

I prefer a gold 2/0 or 3/0 seems the gold color does not throw the fish away from the bait.

I've always used a no 2 long .

i have caught spot, not the yellowbellies, on 1/0 - 3/0 flounder hooks(cant remember the real name, but everyone uses them on the flounder rigs).

Maybe the OBX boys have small spot?