The Fisherman's Wharf > MyFishFinder Polls
Poll - Barbless hooks?
Fat Boy:
I fish with barbless hooks, but not all the time. I do believe that you lose more fish while using them. If I'm in a situation where losing fish will hurt my chances to win a tournament, then I'll use barbed hooks. Since I bass fish the majority of the time that I fish open water, and since I practice catch and release, I want to make sure that I do my part to keep from killing as many as I can. I pinch down the barbs when fishing jigs and soft plastic baits except in the situation that I mentioned above. I don't pinch down hard baits, like spoons, crankbaits, spinnerbaits or buzzbaits. I think that baits with treble hooks do a lot of damage anyway so having a barb on them is not going to make a difference. My choice is always to use a single hook bait first before going to a bait with a treble hook. Why? In addition to the reasons above, I hate getting myself hooked. :P
I do believe that on deep hooked or gut hooked fish, hook removal is much easier, there is less bleeding, and the survival chances of fish are much better as a result. However, I don't think that it makes any difference on lipped hooked fish.
I can see this topic heading for the GOMB forum some day!
Jigwiggler:
I don't fish with barbless hooks. I do believe they would aid in releasing a deeply hooked fish. As far as losing more fish, if you do everthing right you won't lose anymore fish than with barbs. If you give that fish the slightest bit of slack then he's gone. Sometimes that can't be helped so in those cases I feel that a barbed hook may help but give fish slack with any hook and you're bound to lose some.
chrisfrank:
I will occasionally pinch down barbs for catch and release. As far as fishing with artificials I dont think it improves the survival rate, but it is much easier to remove the hook. Also i want to cause the least discomfort to the fish, and barbs can tear up lips pretty bad on a tough fighting fish. I almost always use them when baitfishing for white perch down hear because occasionally a striper will take a bait pretty deep.
camo_fish:
Sometimes I mash the barb down on my homemade trout worm spinners so I can release trout and get them back in the water with less tearing, the hook just slides out and back in they go for someone else to catch. I C&R alot, but seldom let walleyes go.
MMMMMMM ;D
Tournament Drifter:
I believe it all depends on the type of fish... Most game fish with either a bony or fleshy mouth will be just as easily be caught with a barbless hook!!! Barbless penetrates deeper and quicker, reguardless of line or line length... Panfish are thin mouthed and barbed hooks are always better!
Angler and quality gear applying just the right amount of pressure, a must!!!
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