Hookless?

I've been noticing a trend lately.

Hookless flies.

At first I didn't get it. And I must admit it seemed very strange, but now I think I understand. This may be the wave of the future and could save our sport.

The concept, as I understand it, is to fish flies without hooks. This accomplishes several worthwhile goals. No fish get 'hurt'; with all the hoopla surrounding blood sports lately, this may save us from the 'antis' and yet still allow us to pursue our favorite pastime.

It's simple, really. Few of us actually want to keep and eat the fish. We are just there for the excitement of the chase. So, leaving out the hook lets us stalk our prey, present our offering, and receive the positive feedback and excitement of the strike, without harm to the quarry.

Also, we can eliminate dealing with fish slime, trying to remove hooks, and worrying about reviving tired fish. We simply count each strike as a win, and keep fishing.

Expensive stocking programs would no longer be needed. AND, all the worry about overfishing and managing our declining wild populations of fish would be eliminated.

The cost of fly tying would also be lowered, of course. Good hooks have become increasingly expensive. You can tie hookless flies on cheap pieces of bent wire, head pins from the jewelry making section of the craft store, even cut up safety pins.

Tippet strength would no longer be an issue. You could fish incredibly light and virtually invisible lines, thus increasing your odds of that adrenalin causing strike.

Rods could be lighter. The only consideration would be the weather conditions and the size of your flies. It's much more fun to fish with as light a rod as possible.

It would save quite a bit of money on gear. No drags needed would mean reels would be much cheaper. You would not need a net, de hookers, creels, who knows. Probably could get away with fewer rods, too.

All in all, I think this is where the sport is headed. Some short sighted folks will baulk, but eventually everyone will see the beauty and simplicity of the concept.

Who'll join me in this?

Buddy

I'll stick to stickin' 'em, thanks...

Sorry Buddy, but when fishing a sub surface pattern hookless just won't get it for me. A slight tug on the line (or perhaps no tug at all) and it's over. I'm afraid that I enjoy the fight as much or more than the take. Perhaps hookless will catch on (pun intended) in very limited situations where fishing for rare or exotic fish, but for bass and bream or for stocked trout for that matter, I don't think it will work. Just my 2 cents worth...

Jim Smith

What hap said.

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Some short sighted folks will baulk, but eventually everyone will see the beauty and simplicity of the concept.

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Does that make us "short sighted"?

Happy APRIL FOOLS DAY to you as well!!!

Buddy,

I remember John Scott had a thread along a similar vein. I fish dries mostly, C&R always, and I can sorta/kinda see how this might appeal; but (big but), if the fish of a lifetime comes up and hits and all I can do is watch it mouth it and swim away, I can pretty much guarantee the first thing out of my mouth won't be "Oh well, I was going to let it go anyway" :)

Regards,
Scott

Great one Buddy! You win the April Fool's contest in my book.:razz:

Buddy,

You hooked me on that one!

Jim Smith

Good April Fools! I believe that would change the sport to something other than "fishing". And I would have to "opt out'.

Oh boy. I been april fooled. :D

Okay, I got it too. Where's the blushing icon, dammit....;)

*VBG*

Over the years, I've seen this topic actually discussed. Some people even laud the idea. Regardless, it's appropriate and a good April Fools trick nonetheless.

Then there's the gar fisherman who makes his fly or lure from a section of frayed rope which entangles the fish's teeth, no hook needed.

There's a certain limestoner in PA where I had one of my best days ever on chartreuse Biostrike indicator foam; wouldn't even sniff my flies but they rose to the indicator like it was candy. At no time was I happy with just seeing the fish rise and strike; never did try putting some of the stuff on a bare hook (and they weren't keying on inchworms either; tried some of those, no luck).

Regards,
Scott

This is a very old one that has been taken even further many years ago. Alan Bramley at Partridge of Redditch even made hooks with an eye where the point should have been. Known as TAG (touch and go) hooks. Well done though you still caught some.

There are some fisheries here which operate on a catch and kill only basis. It has been known for me to occidentally on purpose break the point off my fly. "Here we go, feels like a nice fish. Ho dam its come off!"

Cheers,
A.

Buddy, you hooked me without even using a hook. Well done!

Ed

Reminds me of a time I was getting "short takes" on nearly every cast with my soft hackle. The strikes were so good I didn't want to take my fly out of the water to check it. Finally did, somehow, the entire hook point was broken off......

Thanks to everyone who played along.

One reason I stopped fishing competitive B.A.S.S. tournaments was that many of the competitors actually did this. While 'pre fishing' they would use lures with the hooks removed, and would get testy if you actually hooked or 'sore mouthed' a fish outside of tournament hours. I always looked at fishing time as precious, and I just couldn't get into the mindset to see this as a positive.

Buddy

True story: About 25 years ago I was invited to a fly tying session where a regionally renown fly tyer was to give a demonstration. During his demo, he happened to do an excellent job, he got on the topic of number of fish caught. He mentioned that he often had 100 fish days. Well, skeptical as I am, I asked where and how many hours a day did he fish. Somewhere along the line he said that he counted a fish caught if the fish came up for his fly. He broke off his fly hooks at the bend and assumed that every fish that hit his fly would have been netted. He did not consider the possibility of missing on the strike, the fish breaking off(for whatever reason), or losing the fish because of (___?___).
I'll not say what I told him because I'm not looking to be banned again from this site. Let's just say that my response was 2 words starting with 'b' and ending with 't', LOL.

Allan

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Originally Posted by Allan

True story: About 25 years ago I was invited to a fly tying session where a regionally renown fly tyer was to give a demonstration. During his demo, he happened to do an excellent job, he got on the topic of number of fish caught. He mentioned that he often had 100 fish days. Well, skeptical as I am, I asked where and how many hours a day did he fish. Somewhere along the line he said that he counted a fish caught if the fish came up for his fly. He broke off his fly hooks at the bend and assumed that every fish that hit his fly would have been netted. He did not consider the possibility of missing on the strike, the fish breaking off(for whatever reason), or losing the fish because of (___?___).
I'll not say what I told him because I'm not looking to be banned again from this site. Let's just say that my response was 2 words starting with 'b' and ending with 't', LOL.

Allan

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"Broken tippet"? O.K., I'm wrong. But good for you to respond as you did. TAG fishing is like asking out some lovely young ladies to the high school dance. Ask five, all of who smiled but said they couldn't go, and you scored five beautiful gals for the dance! Not.

Chuck

I have to admit that you caught me too Buddy. Great post!