What hook size should I use, and what is the logic?

Sizes #6 to #8 for most work, down to #10 on tough bites — and the logic is the throat, not the mouth. A perch can flare its jaws around a surprisingly large item, but the peck-and-suck delivers food through a narrow throat, and a hook with too much wire and gap simply never makes it inside during the brief commitment pull; you feel taps forever and hook nothing. Small, light-wire hooks ride into the mouth with the suction, and with light line and a smooth lift they hold better than their size suggests. When taps will not turn into weight, dropping one hook size is the single highest-percentage change you can make.

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