Barbed and Barbless

[RHenn]

I find barbless hooks much easier to remove from the bluegills and my ear, shirt, etc.. And I don't seem to lose fish due to having a pinched barb, as a matter of fact, I even pinch the barbs on my saltwater flies also.

[Paddy80701]

I'm surprised that no one has jumped in with the standard observation usually made in these discussions. Barbs were put on hooks to prevent worms, eggs, bait from slipping off, not to prevent fish from throwing the hook. As long as the line is kept taught the fish will stay hooked and no barb is necessary, so debarbing hooks will improve your hooking rate as descibed above and will not increase fish loss and also facillitate remocal from ears,fingers etc.

[EdD]

Paddy,
I very respectfully disagree with you. I DO loose more fish using barbless hooks. That's a simple observation from years of fishing. That is even more true with dull hooks. Fish are capable of creating very brief periods line slack by shaking their heads, etc... I have watched them do it as I was lifting them from the water. I very much prefer barbless hooks with debarbed hooks used when I can't find barbless hook in the patterns and sizes I want. I seldom tie on anything but barbless or debarbed hooks. I am a serous fan of barbless hooks. But inspite of that, my observations show that I lose more fish with barbless and debarbed hooks. I have had a barbed hook (Mustad 3906b in size 12) cut out of my foot and I readily agree that barbless is far more preferable for releasing myself as well as fish. I am convinced that fish survival if far better when barbless hooks are used. This is not an attempt to start a flame, just a polite disagreement.

Thanks,
Ed

[bowfin47]

You'll hook AND land more fish with barbless...

Don't believe me?

Well, then take two hooks out of the same box and remove the barb on one. Then have buddy hold a plastic bag taunt between his hands. Then grasp each of these hooks by the eye and pull each of your hooks into/thru the plastic.

What you'll find is that the barbless hook (i.e. needle pointed hook) will "easily" go into/thru the plastic and will be easy to remove or take out of the plastic when you want, while the barbed hook (i.e. wedge shaped point) will be much more difficult to pass through the plastic.

This barbed hook will also be much harder to remove from the plastic. This will directly relate to YOUR destruction of more of YOUR flies attempting to retrieve those flies from deep inside the small mouth of a bluegill or other small-mouthed panfish.

As far as landing more fish with a barbless hook, it is simple math... If your hooking rate increases due to the "needle point" and if you occasionally lose a fish due to the lack of a barb (which will be very, very rare), then you'll still bring more fish to hand with barbless hooks! Always remember that if the barb held the fish on the hook, then you could hook a fish, put down your rod and eat sandwich and come back to find the fish still on the line... After all, the barb held the fish on.. RIGHT? ...

EdD... I agree with most everything you stated but would add that if you try the trick above, you'll see that you'll hook many more fish with barbless and in the end bring more fish to hand...

Bowfin47

PS

This is not an attempt to start a flame, just a polite disagreement.

[Paddy80701]

EdD, No fence taken,I always enjoy a lively discussion and welcome all opinions !!!

[NJTroutbum]

Curious to hear how your hook rate will "improve" with barbless hooks?

Barbs on the shank were placed to hold bait on the hook. AKA..."baitholders". But point barbs have been on every hook manufactured, fly or bait, until the barbless movement took hold over the past 20yrs. They are there to hold onto the fish.....hence, why it is harder to remove by hand as well.

There is also the argument made that barbless hooks move more during the fight of the fish, causing a larger wound and at times multiple hook sets. A barbed hook sets and stays put. In the end though, I guess there can possibly be an equal amount of damage caused when removing a barbed hook as well?

I am not sure if I notice a marked rate of loss when playing fish (barbed vs barbless)....but I do notice a MUCH higher rate of loss when landing fish.

[bowfin47]

Curious to hear how your hook rate will "improve" with barbless hooks?

The answer is simple physics... it's easier to penetrate the flesh of a fish's mouth with a needle (i.e. barbless hook point) than with a wedge (i.e. a barbed point).

Try pulling each into a sub-straight such as a taunt piece of plastic sheeting or small plastic bag held tightly between the fingers of a friend, and you will immediately see that much less pressure is necessary to penetrate the plastic with the barbless hook. Thus a higher hook rate.

By the way I've been demo.ing this little test a conclaves for over 25 years, and it still amazes folks when they try it for themselves.

I do agree with the rest of your statement, but would also add that both styles of hook can cause larger wounds, as the sharp point of a barb also moves and "cuts" the flesh that it contacts as it moves. This cutting action by the "sharp" barb point can often open a larger hole than that caused by the "smooth-shanked", barbless hook. This becomes especially important with the soft-fleshed sections of the mouths of fish species, such as crappie.

The real problem with barbless is that these "needle points" can penetrate deeper and are more likely to reach an eye or other vital area.

Back in the early 80's, in a Three M / S.A. fly fishing publication, there was an article by two very anal, engineer-types who spend hundreds of hours bass fishing where they compared barbed and barbless flies. As I remember, at the end of their study, overall when fishing with the barbless flies, they landed significantly more largemouth bass.

For the above reasons, I fish virtually all my flies barbless, but remember, except in "Barbless Only" regulated areas, ya' can fish how YOU like! HA!

Just my 2 cents.