76 replies to this topic

[flyfishingwright]

Barbless. Its more about release the fish quickly and with less trauma. I find it is much easier to release trout with barbless hooks. Usually as soon as you grab ahold of the fish and take the presure off of the line the hook will just come out.

[Blues Brother]

I'll have to agree with hot tuna, I use barbless, because it's easier for me to remove a barbless hook from myself!



~Bryce

[steelie]

Good Day,

Studies have been made regarding this issue:

http://www.sportsman...t....asp?sid=99

http://www.afga.org/..... 040616-2.pdf

http://www.fgc.ca.go..._50b180isor.pdf

And certainly many others. But the main point is that virtually all studies have come to the conclusion that there is no discernable difference in mortality of game fish based on the difference between a barbed or barbless hook. Many states are now deleting barbless hook regulations due both to the results of said studies and the fact that it will allow for their conservation officers to be freed up for other enforcement activities.

Steelie

[caddis16]

Always bend the barbs on every fly.

[day5]

Ya know I should not say this cause I'm going to get it now!! I have been fishing (seriously) for 10 years and I have never hooked my self or any one else!!!!! BUT I have a 6 and 4 year old that are learning to cast so my chances of getting hooked are much better now!!! So far it is 50 50 in the vote!!! Thanks for the thoughts guys!!!

[Chase Creek]

The ONLY reason there are barbs on hooks dates back to cave guys making hooks out of bone. Barbs were needed to keep the bait on the hook. You don't need barbs to keep a fish on the hook. And they come out of your skin MUCH easier.

[steelie]

Good Day,

First, Day5, Oh how lucky you have been so far! Ha Ha... I have been pierced several times without my permission! No once was it self inflicted however. In fact, each occasion was while fishing the Grand River in Grand Rapids, Mi. Battle fishing at its best! I have had a leg, nose and cheek peircing...


Now, more fuel for the fire... If there were truly no effective reason for barbs to be on, in particular, fly hooks, don't you think the manufactureres would have done something about it by now? Clearly it would be cheaper and easier to produce a hook with no barb...

Steelie

[steeldrifter]

Even though I try to use barbless sometimes, I have to disagree with saying there is no reason to have a barb on a hook.

Even the most effective angler will have times when a fish gets the upperhand and runs at him or does some other move where there is no way to keep slack out of the line. And even if it's just for a split second, a barbless fly will slide out if given any slack and the fish turns the right way.

Even though I try to use barbless when I can, I have to say.....if I have the fish of a lifetime on the end of my rod then I would rather have a barb then not have it.

[maddog48]

100% barbless here.


Mike

[RunninDetox]

I always go with the barb. When I am on the lake, it is at that time wether or not I decide I am going to keep any for eating, if I am not going to, than I pinch the barb. I like the chance to have the choice. That's just my personal opinion!

[Jeff Kimball]

I do not go barbless unless the regs require it of me. I do not think that if you properly remove a hook that it causes any more damage either way.

I don't want to hijack the thread (or fight) but I'm curious. All other fish handling aside, when it comes to actually removing the steel from flesh are you suggesting there's a "correct" and "incorrect" method of removing a barbed hook?

I'm thinking variances in leverage, pressure or technique may come into play? Or were you simply referring to, lets say, not sticking your fingers in the fish's gills to pick it up like grandfather's generation?

[bowfin47]

Sharpen your hooks, especially larger hooks, and go barbless!! You catch more fish!

I fish trout, warmwater, and inshore salt water barbless!! I fish them all barbless.

Try this: Take two hooks out of any box of hooks that you regualarly use; make one barbless; get a friend (you do have a friend - don't ya'?); to hold a small section of a plactic bag tightly between the thumb and forfinger of each hand; pull a barbed hook into, and then out of, the taunt plastic and then repeat with the barbless hook.

Do that just one time and you'll see that the barbed hook is harder to stick into the plastic and very much harder to remove from the plastic than the barbless!

These means that that if you fish with barbed hooks, you'll catch fewer fish, and you'll do more damage to both the fish and your fly when you have to remove it from the fish.

By the way, if you fish for bream, you'll always do more damage to your flies removing them from the bream if you fish barbed!!


Besides, barbless hooks sure are easier to remove from clothing and from human flesh... and if you do this long enough you will eventaully be invovled in removing a hook from human flesh!!


Think about it and de-barb ALL your flies!

[Alex C.]

It may be true that a barbless hook is easier to stab into something, but do you guys really think that with the amount of force a 9' lever(your rod) generates that it really matters?

[Dble Haul]

It may be true that a barbless hook is easier to stab into something, but do you guys really think that with the amount of force a 9' lever(your rod) generates that it really matters?

Yes, especially with bony-mouthed fish. Absolutely no question. Plus, with tiny flies and very light tippets, the hook can penetrate with less pressure, thereby reducing the chances of breaking off on the hook set.

[Alex C.]

Yes, especially with bony-mouthed fish. Absolutely no question. Plus, with tiny flies and very light tippets, the hook can penetrate with less pressure, thereby reducing the chances of breaking off on the hook set.

Okay I get that part and it makes sense, so heres another question. say for example you are stripping in a fly. Your rod is pointed torward the fly at about 8 or 9 o clock. You feel a fish hit the fly and set the hook. When setting the hook, you quickly lift the rod butt, (not the tip since the tip would pretty much stop traveling upward as soon as the hook was set) to about 10 or 11 o clock.

Barbless or not, when that fish strikes, the rod is still going to travel about the same distance while setting the hook. Sure with the barbless hook, the hook would be set quicker. How much quicker I don't know and don't have the right equipment to test it. But I would guess the difference between a barbless and a barbed hook is pretty small when using such long rods, and the reasoning for going barbless based on better hook penetration, wouldn't be worth the risk of a barbless hook being easier for the fish to throw, assuming you screwed up during the fight, or the fish makes a run straight at you faster than you can get the slack out of the line, and throws the hook.

I've never fished for any saltwater species, the only bony mouthed species I've fished for would be pike, and you'd think with bony mouthed fish in particular, it would be beneficial to have a barb on the hook