YEP I debarb all hooks, with my casting skills I need all the safety I can get.
Eric
YEP I debarb all hooks, with my casting skills I need all the safety I can get.
Eric
"Complexity is easy; Simplicity is difficult."
Georgy Shragin
Designer of ppsh41 sub machine gun
Me too....what Eric said. I tie my own flies, so de-barb before mounting the hook in the vise. More of my inventory is now barbless hooks, too.
Whether you think you can, or think you cannot, you're probably right.
--Author unknown
Squeezing barbs, yes. Using pre-made barbless hooks, no. That little bump left after flattening a barb provides enough resistance when a fish jumps, etc., to keep it hooked up, but doesn't make it any harder to pull out of the fish or yourself.
de-barb yes. If the barb snaps when bending, I'm reasonable sure the carbon content is higher than when the barb only bends. Generally, the higher carbon content hook is a stronger one.
I believe that a de-barbed or barbless hook also aids in more hook ups. Less resistance going in or out.
Jon Joy
"A jerk at one end of the line is enough."
Member Ozark Fly Fishers http://www.ozarkflyfishers.org/
Advantages to going barbless:
1) Safer
2) Easier to remove from fish
3) More hookups
4) Legal in all streams I fish
Disadvantages:
1) Lose the occasional fish that I wouln't have hooked in the first place with a barbed hook.
It's a pretty easy choice.
I debarb as well.
Mike
FAOL..All about caring, sharing, & good friends!!