Fishing barbless

[Member]

I had been fooling around with the idea of crushing the barbs on all my trebles for quite a while and spend an afternoon recently doing just that.
After coming back from a Cod fishing trip all barbless I'm totally converted. I didn't lose a single fish due to the lack of barbs. I'd like to know how many on the site are doing the same.
John

[Member]

I mostly do, except on some Barra lures & flies for saratoga.

fitzy..

[Member]

The only exception for me are toga flies. The main reason i crush all my barbs isnt really for the fish's sake of well being but more my hands and fingers sake ! up to 5 "treble accidents" now, I tell you it effing hurts when a carp is on one side of a lure and your thumb on the other and the prick takes off !!!!!!

Steve

[Member]

Nope, I do have a few boxes of barbless VMC trebles I picked up a while ago to try, but have never got around to it.

[Member]

G'day John,

As Fitzy mentioned in regards to crushing the barb on trebles for Barra, I never have and more than likely never will unless someone with the experience of a well known guide who catches them on a regular basis convinces me to do so otherwise. For crushing barbs on other hooks for chasing smaller species, I do occationally but rarely do.

Dave

[Member]

No, from what I've seen the mouths of most fish I catch tend to be torn a bit anyway, most hooks just fall out.  The only positive I can see is if you hook yourself.  Having some pretty big trebles imbedded in my hand in PNG, I sort of wish I'd crushed the barbs, but if that would have cost me a fish, I'd rather yank the hook out of my hand.  Nobody can tell me it hurts the fish less not having barbs, honestly if I was that concerned about the fish, and thought that they felt pain in the same way we do, I wouldn't be fishing.

[Member]

Good input blokes,
I know it inconveniences the fish to have a barbed hook in their god, but For me it's mainly to get the release done a bit quicker as well as a safety factor. Fishing for Cod the the other day we caught and released 2 Cod and 3 yella's all on barbless hooks. I believe that as long as you keep the pressure on you won't lose the fish. In the Barra Classic on the Daly River one of the conditions is to fish barbless, and they have random checks on tackle. In some cases, particularly with fish with very bony jaws, going barbless can actually aid hook setting.
JD

[Member]

Prett y much always(unless I forget). I would say that crushing barbs(especially on larger guage hooks) results in more fish due to penetration. I have lost plenty of fish while using barbs in the past and have also caught fish while using barbs and upon examination have seen the penetration stops when the barb makes contake with the entry point. They are certainly easier to remove from fish and fingers which is also nice.