Barbless Hooks?

[Stan Wright]

What do you guys think about barbless hooks?

I started bending the barbs down on hooks when the kids were young. It's a lot easier to remove a barbless hook from fish, sleeves, hats, ears and fingers... than one with the barb on.

All the flys I fish with have barbless hooks... as many times as I've been hooked, it's saved a lot of trips to the emergency room. And as long as you keep the line tight, you don't loose that many fish.

Today I was replacing the rusty hooks on some crank baits when I got to thinking....

Thinking about that "Bloopers" video of Bill Dance setting the hook and the lure come flying back and sticking the hooks in his face. He said, "Well let's go to the Doctors".

I was also thinking of Bill reaching down to "lip a bass" and geting a hand full of hooks when the fish shook it's head. That happened to my son Chris too.. The guy fishing with Chris was able to step on, and hold the fish till they could cut the hook off of the lure. (we keep wire cutters in the boat) Since the hook was already sticking out the other side of his finger, they just cut it off and pulled it on through, taped it up and went on fishing.
(we also have a First Aid Kit in the boat). I might mention that for the rest of that day, Chris used the dip net, the BogaGrip, and long nose pliers. He didn't get within 8 inches of any fish.

I didn't have to think too hard... I started bending the barbs down on all the crank baits.

[roadwarriorsvt]

I lose enough fish with the barbs so I'll keep them Now I may change my mind during my first trip to the closest ER, but for now, the barbs stay.

[shanai]

I've been using barbless hooks for a while now, especially when I'm fishing "catch & release". It's an optional thing in the HFFA but I think it's something worth looking into for all tournament fishing at Lake Wilson/Wahiawa Reservoir. I'm not sure if you lose any more fish fishing with barbless hooks but it sure makes releasing a fish a lot easier ( also a lot safer for the fish with less stress ).

On another note, received my hard cover 50th anniversary Cabela's 2011 Spring Edition catalog in the mail today. It's probably a combination of all their catalogs as it's almost 1400 pages. I got some "researching" to do.

[Ahnkochee]

When fishing for Smallmouth Bass in the mountain streams I always bend the barb down with pliers.

[Joel]

I lose enough fish with the barbs so I'll keep them Now I may change my mind during my first trip to the closest ER, but for now, the barbs stay.

I still use barbs on all my baits. I change out all the factory hooks however when I buy crank and rogue baits to a rotating style treble.. I had a tournament partner put a treble into my cheek when I was in high school...it'll wake you up for sure!!!

[OO7:BASSINASSASSIN]

I tried going barbless for awhile after getting hooks stuck in my finger and on top of my head. However, I lost to many fish, especially the big ones. Just got to be careful.