Barbs v Barbless

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Eddie Caldwell

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Barrie

I now only fish for trout (and occasionally for salmon) and most club and fishery waters that I fish have this barbless rule. We have no choice in the matter.

I suppose I've got used to fishing barbless and thinking about it I must be honest and tell you that I do not lose many fish once hooked.

However, the next time the opportunity presents itself I will try barbed hooks again. Looking back to both coarse and game fishing over fifty-odd years, unless a particular fish was deeply hooked, as many hooks fell out in the net from barbed hooks as they do nowadays from barbless hooks.

I read your articles regularly and I would take this opportunity to thank you for such authoritative and stimulating reading.
Cheers!

Eddie Caldwell
 
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Dave Slater

Guest
Barrie

I think I have come to the same conclusion as you and use hooks with small barbs for all of my fishing. I usually squeeze the barb down but some patterns are ok as they are. This gives the best features of barbed and barbless. The fish are easy to unhook, the best feature of barbless, but do not suffer from the deep penetration and hook movement caused when using barbless.
 
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Kevin Cox

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I find it hard to believe that at least one company has'nt produced whisker barbed treble hooks, or if they have i'm not aware of it.
Surely there must be a market out there for them.
 
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Chris Bishop

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Drennan Extra Strong and VMC round-bends are pretty close Kev. I use both with no problems.
 
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Kevin Cox

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Said i was going to have a look at those, never got round to it.
 
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Kevin Thornton

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The major reason that I have against using barbless hooks is that it is possible to loose fish at the net. In darkness with a fast flow, lots of weed or snags, it's not out the question for a fish to slip the hook. In the case of a barbel, this would be disastrous. The fish, now exhausted floats belly up and is carried away by the stream to die gasping in the shallows. It's not worth the risk. Micro barbs do give a margin of safety.
 
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Wag

Guest
There used to be a pattern of hooks (Ashima?)which had a bump, or flattened 'pinch' instead of a barb which seemed to work OK. They always seemed a good compromise to me. I haven't seen them for a while.
I do use splinter barbed hooks in small sizes (16+), but so many waters now ban all barbs that it's easier just to stock barbless, that way you're always OK.
I would prefer to use splinter/ghost barbed hooks, but having seen the lip damage to fish caused by careless match anglers using full barbs in the past, I fully understand why they are banned.
Unhooking fish caught on barbed hooks shouldn't cause damage, unless done incompetently or in too much of a hurry (hence the old match angler problems), but why take the risk?
There are several reasoned arguments FOR using barbed hooks to prevent deep penetration, especially in the case of Perch, which have vital organs just below the surface of the throat, and also that they move around less, particularly when playing hard fighting fish such as Carp and Barbel, but again the problem is unskilled or uncaring anglers doing the unhooking.
Reasons both for and against, but overall the ban on barbs is understandable.
 
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Gerald Fish

Guest
Has anybody tried pinched barb. Not flattend. There is no barb on the hooks, instead where the barb should be, the hook's wire is flattend on both sides thus forming a hump. My mate is trying them now, I've tried them but never got a bite and have never used them since.
I must confess, all my hooks are barbless, that goes for plugs and spinners, and flies. Even when dead baiting for pike, all my barbs are flattend or removed where possible on all three hooks forming the treble. All the waters that I fish including club waters all advocate barbless hooks. Yes I have lost fish, but probably no more than anyone else.
The problems that I have about hooks is the length of the hook shank and the width of the gape.
 
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Ron Troversial Clay

Guest
Other than where it's the rule, I do not use barbless hooks. The reasons for this are exactly as Barrie states in his article.

I have been looking forward to this piece by Barrie for a long time.
 
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Wolfman Woody

Guest
Spot on Barrie! For most of my fishing in sizes 14 and smaller I will use barbless for the very reason you've outlined - hardly any need to strike. Also hate getting them in my fingers. But for larger hooks I do like a barb even if I then flatten it or even break it off, as in the Kamasan Trout hooks I use for barbel.

For carp fishing it is unfortunately the rule on our water that only barbless are allowed and that's all I keep in my carp box (saves me retrieving my bait to show the bailiffs). However, I get sick of the times I have caught small carp that do a spin in the net, the barbless comes out and gets stuck in it's belly. This wouldn't happen with a whisker barb.
 
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Ron Troversial Clay

Guest
By the way Jeff and others, here's how to get a barbed hook out of your anatomy.

Immediatly the hook goes in, grab it with forceps and pull once - hard! It will come out and maybe you will bleed like mad for some time but its better than leaving the hook in, where in time the pain will build up and you will have to go to a hospital.

A piece of wood between your teeth helps.
 
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Wolfman Woody

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I should have remembered the wood Ron. At least what with biting my tongue clean off and what the wife did to me I can now get a job as a eunoch in a Saudi hareem.

Serious point (ouch) - A lot of the damage to fish's lips / flesh is done by wiggling to hook around to get it out. If you grab it firmly with the forceps, pull it out straight, as it went in, there's less damage. You don't see doctors treating knife wounds by grabbing the handle and wiggling it about a bit first, do you?
 
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EsoxBlades

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Great article, agree with Barrie and find that barbless hooks can actually penetrate a lot deeper than barbed and this causes me concern, particularly with smaller Zander whose heart is close to the back of the throat. I use barbed hooks except where fisheries disallow their use. I lose Pike on barbed as well as barbless hooks, but a great deal less on barbed!

As for hook in the finger, I have on two occasions had the misfortune to need to execute field aid to a sunken hook. On one occassion an irate 4.5lb Esox danced around on the the other hook in the trace cue cutters 'essential Pike kit'. Pike dealt with and returned (still fighting), I gently pushed the hook bend so the barb penetrates OUT from under the skin, it is then a simple matter of cutting the barb off and pulling the now barbless hook out. You will find that you will bleed less using this method, (rather than ripping tissue pulling against the barb) although it will depend on where it has stuck in! Another tip, and I utilise 14 years military service to enforce this, chew the wound - it heals a whole lot quicker and in my experience results in no infection. Once you have done this once, it becomes much easier the second time...

Clearly you will not endure this if you use barbless hooks.

And finally...
We use hooks to catch fish, barbed or otherwise, let's not stray towards compliance with our protagonists.

Pikelines
 
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Ron Troversial Clay

Guest
A bit of fresh pike slime on a wound also helps. Fresh fish slime is the perfect biocide. That's it's purpose. Maybe there is some truth in the tench being the "Doctor Fish".
 
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Wolfman Woody

Guest
Can't say how I'd agree with that last one Ron.

Richard has a point with chewing it. First you encourage it to bleed thereby getting out many of the toxins. Secondly you encourage the platelets (hope I spelt that right) in the blood to congeal around the wound.

I would imagine it's difficult to do that though Richard if you get shot in the aris, unless you have a good friend of course :)
 
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Wolfman Woody

Guest
Sorry Conrad it was your point about chewing it, not Richard.

Difficult to remember and see who made these points without keep winding the frame up and down all the time
 
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john hughes

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I think any angler using barbed hooks is a dinosaur. I have been fishing for 34 years and for most of them (until barbed hooks became readily available) I crushed the barb. I now use only barbless for predator, fly and coarse (most fisheries dictate this anyway) and do not lose any more fish than any of my friends who still insist on using barbed hooks. I think at a time when our sport is under threat it is a small compromise to make, as it is perceived to be a more caring attitude, and the publics perception of anglers counts for a lot.
 
GrahamM

GrahamM

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Some people would say I'm a dinosaur regardless of the fact that I use flattened barbs or micro-barbs on my hooks most of the time, but hey, even a dinosaur has an opinion.

And mine agrees very much with Barrie Rickard's views in his article.

But what should be considered is that there is a time and a place for both micro-barbed and barbless hooks and I reckon it's a wise angler who can shrug off the blinkers, allow some light in, and see the bigger picture.
 
GrahamM

GrahamM

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By the way John, the best way to appease the anti-angling public is not to stick hooks in fish at all. Why stop at half measures?
 
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john hughes

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I don't appease any one .As I said it is a matter of perception.If I wanted to appease people I would stop fishing. And yes even dinosaurs have opinions but remember the size of their brains?
 
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