Middle Ground

[Noggin10 0]

Having just started tying within the past year I have recently been faced with the choice of bard or barbless. While I appreciate the advantages a barbless hook gives to the fish I also enjoy the security a barb gives to me as the fisherman. Thus, my question is: Is there a "semi" barb out there? And if not is there a reason? My thought is that instead of using the sub 90degree angle of a traditional barb a raised barb that is perpendicular to the hook point could adequately secure the fish and at the same time make removal less damaging. Any thoughts? Or knowledge of an existing product?

[switch10 0]

I've seen a few companies have "micro barbs" on some styles of hooks... I have never tried them though..

[whatfly 0]

"I also enjoy the security a barb gives to me as the fisherman."

Which makes you feel more secure? Knowing that when you hook yourself you are using barbless or barbed hooks? Sole consideration is not the fish. There's lots of literature out there, by the way, that argues that the effectiveness of barbed hooks versus barbless is not as great as one might imagine. Regardless, I know which one I perfer when I sink a nymph into my thumb on a cold winter day. YMMV.

[Will K 0]

I've only bought a few packs of barbless over the years, I always crimp barbs before fishing now though. I dont know that it's "real" but I feel like a crimped barb leaves a very small bump that helps hold it in there. I have to admit, at times, I'm surprised how hard it is to get a crimped barb hook out.

 

That all said, another consideration is the fly itself. One of my last barbed flies was a hendrickson dry i'd tied. Ever have one of those flies that you just feel really proud of? It just looked unreal and I really loved that fly... an big (18") brookie ate that dry and gave me a good 2' of heaven trying to get that fish out of the run it was digging into... once in the net, removing that thing was unreal - it must have got the fish in the toughest tissue in it's mouth! By the time I'd got the hook out, I'd had to use the heamostats in all kinds of positions, and the fly was bent, shredded and destroyed. I saved it becuase hey, 1 18" brookie (stocker or not) is a big brookie... and I just loved the fly... but in the end, had that been de-barbed, i likely could have kept drifting that hendrickson for several more fish,

[MWl 0]

I have been FF for 42 years. I can't remember when I started de barbing hooks. But it's been a really long time. I really don't believe a barb helps you in any type of fishing. I have caught more than 200 Tarpon on fly, never 1 with a barb. I feel you get a better "deeper" hook up. Again I have caught every thing from Tuna to trout. Some guys may disagree and that's fine. But for me no barbs ever. And as some of the fellows mentioned, if you should stick one in your self or a buddy, you will be glad if there is no barb. Just my opinion.

 

MWL

[Piker20 0]

Over here in the UK a brand in the 90's produced a hook for bait fisherman that had a small hump instead of the barb. It didn't catch on. If you want a barbed hook you're going to use one and if not you won't. As whatfly says, I know which one I prefer stuck in me.

[spinninBugs 0]

I have never fished with a barbed hook on purpose. I have always thought barbs should only be used by the people who make a living off fish or have to survive off their catch. I personally respect a fish when it gets off the hook. I credit size 18 barbless hooks for making me me learn how to play a fish properly.

[Odaon 0]

I agree with everyone that's posted so far. I debarb all my hooks. If I ever forget I get upset because I usually have to ruin the fly to get it out of a fish. Barbless hooks, if you know how to fight fish, should work just as well and will do less damage to the fish and yourself. When you hook yourself (it will happen), you'll be happy you went barbless.

 

EDIT: Also, barbless hooks don't tear up your fly boxes!

[Chase Creek 0]

I read somewhere quite a while ago, that the barbs on hooks are merely a holdover from the old days (WAY old days) before fly fishing when hooks were carved from wood or bone, and the real purpose was to keep the bait on the hook, not the fish on the hook.

Kinda makes sense to me, but no matter what the reason, I prefer barbless just cuz I think it's easier on the fish (and your finger, if hooked).

[Wavey1988 0]

I use barbless/debarbed no matter what type of fishing I do. Keep a bend in the rod and you don't really have to worry about hook hold. For me, fish coming off happens that infrequently as to be almost negligible.

[mikechell 0]

Once again, I'll be happy to be the odd man out. I use barbed hooks. Noggin ... I've always used barbed hooks except once, recently, when fishing a stretch of water that didn't allow barbs. I caught one out of every ten hits, and I am pretty sure it was the barbless nature of the hook that allowed that. So, according to many of the people on this site, I don't know how to play the fish, or I am just a lousy angler. Fortunately for me, I don't care what others think of me.

[JSzymczyk 0]

If you want a "semi" barb, just crush it half way down. Too easy.

 

Mikechell I don't know, dude. I really doubt it was the barbless hook which lost you 90% of the fish. It might just have been your confidence factor.

 

I'm all about barbless. I don't usually buy barbless hooks, but I crush down the barbs on every hook I use-- all flies and all lures for sure. In my little mind, getting a good hook set is easier with a barbless hook. Think about sticking a needle into flesh, or driving a wedge into it. Doesn't matter on a bass rod with an action like a broomstick and 60-pound superbraid for line, but on a flexy fly rod and a stretchy tippet, it's easier.

 

Many many times I have hooked an average trout, bass, crappie, bluegill, or whatever, and just put my rod down to prove a point. It normally takes a LONG time for a fish to come unhooked under no pressure with a barbless hook. We ALL lose fish due to about a billion variables (maybe more...) but I have next to no reason to think more than a tiny fraction of them could be attributed to a barbless hook.

 

Overwhelmingly, it is so much easier to remove a barbless hook from MY tender sweet succulent flesh than a barbed hook! I manage to get a hook stuck in me at least a few times a year, and I have no worries. One time my brother's dog ran over my fly which was on the ground and stuck it in her foot. What a friggin' mess that would have been if it was barbed!

[Noggin10 0]

Bending the barb half way what I meant by semi. It would still cause flesh to get caught underneath and do damage. What I'm talking about would be the barbs we have now except the space created under it would be filled in. I know that isn't a very clear explanation, sorry. I caught the largest trout of my life on a barbless hook, 21" long 16"girth rainbow. It got wrapped around moss to the extent that could now longer feel or move it and just let slack in my line as a last ditch effort, after the longest minute or so of my life in emerged still on my line. While that probably should have sold me forever on barbless I still have days when I can't keep a fish on until switching to a barbed hook. I've experienced the pros and cons of both.

[Noggin10 0]

Excuse the typos, doing this on a phone and have to power through before I hit the wrong button and the post is erased or some other tragedy.

[JSzymczyk 0]

Get the fly rod out of your mouth. You're gonna break it.

 

I think the current crop of Boutique "micro-barb" hooks are about as close as you want.

 

Whatever pseudo-scientific research has been done on fish mortality after release using barbed versus barbless SINGLE hooks, shows there is very little difference to the fish. YES barbed hooks seem to tear up the fish's mouth way more than barbless, usually. Treble hooks are a whole different matter, not normally applicable to fly fishing. So, I DO think it matters to the fish, but it doesn't matter to the fish if it is headed for hot peanut oil. What matters most, is ME. I know without any question that I lose very very few fish due to barbless hooks, if any, and I know they are so much easier to remove from me when the time comes.