I am new to fly fishing, so I'm new to this barbless trend. I have always bass fished with barbed hooks and I still had them throw the hook. For fish like bream/bluegill, I could see where using barbless hooks wouldn't hurt the catch rate because they tend to turn sideways and swim. While fly fishing for bass, I would choose to use hooks with barbs because of the head shake (as mentioned earlier). I lost a pickerel when he shook his head multiple times and I have now decided the reason was the barbless hook (on a fly given to me). Maybe I didn't play the fish right or something. Now for me, it is a confidence thing.