Kick This Around: Barbed vs. Barbless

[Marc Martyn]

Many people say that with barbless hooks they loose more fish. I disagree and this is my theory.
I have been totally barbless for about 20 years now. Before I tie my flies I use my Dremel mini-grinder with a flat cutoff disc and grind the barb completely down. I then tap the point of the hook with it to give it a needle sharp point. Over the years I have discovered that in doing this I get a much better penetration when the fish bites. The barb actually creates more resistance during penetration, thus the hook does not go as deep. This can be demonstrated by taking a barbed and a barbless and pushing it through a soft material like rubber.
Once hooked, you do have to keep the slack out of the line.
What are your thoughts?

[A9]

I do a lot of my fishing at a certain selective gear lake. So, I have to pinch all my barbs...Honestly, I don't lose all that many as people say they do. I don't think that the barb creates any if noticable resistance, because it (the barb) is just slightly curved up, but I would be interested in trying in a soft material like you said. Hey maybe I am wrong and it does create a little resistance.

I will say though that treble hooks are horrible for hooking and holding fish. It's really tough for a trout to get one of those barbs totally buried in it's mouth. For things like bottom fish, trebles are a must, but for trout, I've always noticed that my fish seem to shake off right away or near the boat when hooked by a treble hook. I'm gonna start replacing most of my treble hooks with siwash Gamakatsu's here pretty soon...

[Lotech Joe]

I've been told, and believe it so, that barbs were invented to hold the bait to the hook. I've been fly fishing for some time now, and like Marc, the only time I lose a fish is when I allow a slack line. Plus the hooks are easier to remove from non-fish species like ears, necks and faces. I'm not totally barbless though. I use barbed treble hooks when trolling hardware for keepers. Fried fish, hashbrowns and corn on the cob have been a family tradition since I was a child.

[raffensg64]

I agree. I don't go through the effort that Marc does, but I must admit it makes a lot sense. I fish barbless in all lakes and streams and know for a fact that the trick is to keep a tight line. I land nearly all my fish, even those popped in the snout with size 18 and 20 midges. The exceptions are those strong, crazy, aerobatic rainbows that we often run into! They've been known to throw a hook or two....kudos to the fish for winning the battle! And I have noticed that when I lose a couple consecutive fish the culprit is almost always a hook that has lost its point.

[Fingrum]

i think that barbless hooks r only good for holding my worm on.... i use them all the time because i am to lazy to cut them off... when i lived in eastern washington ell lake is a selective gear lake and no barb hooks i learned the tricks to snaggin the fish up there. But i have lost just as many fish with a barbed hook than i have with a barbless hook

[littleriver]

I tend to agree with gist of opinions here.... would add one more arguement in favor of barbless hooks...

that is they are easier to remove when you impale yourself.... I have painful memories of removing a 2/0 salmon type hook from my hand in the gap between tatoosh island and the neah bay mainland a couple of decades ago... had just caught a nice rockfish and threw it into the cooler before removing both hooks.... the second hook stuck in the palm of my hand and the first hook was still in the fish's mouth.. weight of the fish forced the second hook deep and the barb went under the surface of the skin...

I had to use my filet knife to to carve into the meat of my hand until the barb came free.... waves bouncing me everywhere, blood spurting out of my hand...... man.. I've been a big believer in barbless ever since.... In fact I would go so far as suggesting that
manufacturers be required to just start making certain kinds of hooks (e.g. any not specifically designed for bait fishermen) barbless right at the factory...

[fishunt83]

It all depends for me if I am going to use a barb or not. When fishing in lakes and streams I tend to use barbless. Only because its easier to remove. I dont seem to really lose the fish either.

Thought I do use barbs when I am fishing for salmon in the sound. Only reason is because it is a much bigger fish and they cant the hook out of their mouths as easy. Thats really great considering how much water they have to run

[raffensg64]

Here's another great thing about barbless hooks that I didn't think to mention in my previous reply. Just today one of my partners commented on how neat it is that half his fish throw the hook immediately after being netted. How true that is....a flop or two and the fish often unhook themselves. Knotless nets and not having to touch the fish at all, you can't treat them any better than that! Unless, of course, you stay at home altogether, and we all know that just aint gonna happen!!!

[Fish On!]

I would agree 100%. If more people fished barbless there would be a big improvement in fishing and few fish would be killed. I did my rant in the bait section post on here. I fish bait, but always squeeze the barb down and not touch the fish. Easy to shake off a trout and not even touch it. If you keep a tight line I lose very few fish. The ones that go nuts and throw the hook are just that much more fun. I was going to release them anyway, so it happened just a bit sooner!.....:d/

My question to the ones that use nets. Why? If the fish is 3-4 lbs I could see maybe netting it for control, but the majority of fish don't need to be netted. Barbless and shake the fish off or take forceps and pop the hook. Very few fish I catch ever require anything other than a quick release. Knotless nets or not, throw the net away and get with the program!

[cole steffens]

when using a barbless hook make sure you have a good hook set and keep good tension on the line and youll land fish 75% of the time

[raffensg64]

Fish On!, just a quick note. A lot of us here on the east side fish lakes where the trout are absolutely large! I'm dead serious. We are with the program when we use knotless nets! 16-22" trout, healthy, fat, and full of fight are the norm and that fight continues at the boat. They do not roll over and play dead and become easy prey for forceps or other hook removers. We have to use nets! And the majority of us net these fish without completely removing them from the water, and we refrain from touching them altogether. A simple, gentle push is all that's required to slide the fly out and with a quick turn of the net, the fish is gone.

I've had some additional time to think about this topic, and it's dawned on me that I can't recall one single occasion when I've had to remove a barbless hook from a fish that snapped off. But I have, on numerous occasions, removed flies, spinners, bait hooks with barbs from fish. Not the end of the world, I know, for they will usually shake them out eventually And trout are thankfully tough characters....a few trips to West Medical will prove that rainbows in particular can take a licking and keep on ticking!

Good luck to all and have fun with em! Gotta go....Medical's monsta browns and rainbows are calling me!

[gpc]

Yeah I never thought about the barb adding resistance. I dont do much selective gear fishing but I only miss fish when Im not paying attention wich sucks but dosnt happen too often. Somtimes when Im doing real well on a newly stocked lake and the fish are real small I will pinch my barb for the fish's sake