It's a well known fact that barbless hooks penetrate way deeper than a barbed hook. There are a number of fisheries that now ban barbless hooks because they want to preserve their fish stocks!
There are also many more fisheries who ban barbed hooks altogether to preserve their fish stocks, and many fisheries who only ban barbed hooks for their smaller fish stock and allow them on their larger fish, so it’s hard to tell who is right or wrong, especially when you regularly see fish without lips on a lot of waters, all with different rules on hooks.
A well known angler, fishery owner and specimen perch angler Steve Burk has baned barbless hooks on his waters. He says barbless hooks should never be used for perch fishing becase they penetrate so deeply and with perch often being hooked in their throat (which is where their heart is) and chances are the deeper penetrating barbless hook will puncture their hearts.
I respect Steve Burke as an angler extraordinaire and if he says that “barbless hooks should never be used for perch fishing because they penetrate so deeply and with perch often being hooked in their throat (which is where their heart is) and chances are the deeper penetrating barbless hook will puncture their hearts.” then I believe him; and in future I’ll always use semi barbed hooks when I am after Perch. Thanks for this info.
But I must ask; what about all the perch that I’ve seen over the years with barbed hooks stuck through their gullets down deep in their throats, which could probably have been easier to remove if they had not been barbed?
I once posted a picture of a barbel that i'd caught and it was carrying a barbless hook that had worked it's way completely round in the fishes mouth. The eye of the hook prevented the hook from coming out and the fishes face was swollen up and and was a raw open sore. I hoped with the hook removed the fish would survive but it would always have a nasty deformaty.
Im sorry to hear about that barbel which hopefully was a one off, but we have no choice but to use barbless hooks on any of our clubs waters (one of my clubs anyway), including its many barbel stretches; (apart from one Barbel that had external eye damage that looked like it might have been caused by a hook); and since this ‘barbless hooks only’ rule came in we no longer get Barbel with older barbed hooks strung out in their mouths or smaller fish which are tethered to a snag because they can’t eject their hook, and our barbel are as healthy as they ever where before, if not healthier.
So I’m still not convinced that a total ban on barbless hooks is a good thing except in certain situations.
Keith