Barb vs. No Barb

[Rob Allen]

Cheek, last year while spey casting size 6 street walker on the Rogue
2010 or so November on the Grand Ronde 3/0 black King through the earlobe on an angry spey cast.. barbless thank God.
1/0 black salmon fly hook in a finger while cleaning my room as a kid.

Size 5 streamer hook in another finger while cleaning my room as a kid..

I think that's it... lots of other close calls and once I stuck my fly tying scissors up into the meat of my palm parallel with my thumb.

 

[Dr. Magill]

The dick
You fellas are funny

 

[clarkman]

Never woulda thought a thread about barb/barbless would go south this quick.

 

[SteelHeadDave]

IMO keeping a fish hooked has a lot to do with how you set the hook and how you play the fish. You mentioned coho. Most of the time I see people lose fish it happens near the beach when they are ready to “land” the fish. Too much upwards tension or trying to horse it in are common mistakes I see all the time. I think it just takes practice and learning from your own and other peoples mistakes to see what works. I honestly rarely lose coho after a good hook set. When I do lose them it’s usually because I didn’t set the hook properly or I bent the hook out, broke off due to an unchecked wind knot or damaged line. I’m glad there are barbless rules for the salt. I see a lot of piss poor handling enough already, I can’t imagine the shit show it would be if barbs were legal.

 

[BriGuy]

I hooked myself in the hand when I was 5ish but never since then. As far as pain goes, a finger is probably the most painful place I can think of.

I can think of one or three others.

 

[DoesItFloat]

Lip is true. Dick would be very painful but how the f#$% could someone hook themselves in the dick?

Some guys piss off the boat and notice the water is cold. Other guys piss off the boat and notice it's deep.

 

[FinLuver]

I’m a trendsetter and a bit of a rogue…
I tie and fish barbed…
A heathen actually.

 

[c2peak]

When trout fishing, I always go barbless regardless of the regulations. Just easier all around whether I hook clothing, a fish, my net, or myself.

 

[Jack Devlin]

Barbless always. If you have ever been hooked you know why.

 

[EmergingFisher]

Barbless - having hooked myself right under the chin this summer and having to have the guide rip it out confirmed the practice for me. Side note: the guide had forgotten to pinch the barb on that particular fly, I had noticed and pinched it myself just before a gust of wind whipped it around to somehow end up under my face. Had I not noticed and pinched it would not have been fun.

 

[Brute]

Barbless…

 

[Porter2]

Second barbless. Always. Earn it !!!

 

[TicTokCroc]

Kinda like a sloppy clipped adipose, I do a 'light' barb mash leaving a bit of a bulge.

 

[Zak]

Kinda like a sloppy clipped adipose, I do a 'light' barb mash leaving a bit of a bulge.

I have often thought that pinching barbs leaves a little bumb that could keep the fish on in a moment of slack.

 

[Richard Olmstead]

I'm surprised by how many people prefer barbless

I’m not surprised at all. Count me among the barbless at-all-times crowd. I suspect the proportion of barbless hook advocates increases with years of fly fishing experience. Once one has caught lots of fish over years, any marginal increase in keeping fish on your hook becomes much less important than the ease of removing the hook from either the fish or your skin.

 

[Scottp]

My neighbor buried a #4 Mustad 3407 in my middle finger (appropriate) when I was trying to release a shad he caught; thank god it was one of my flies and the barb was mashed. I haven’t purposely left a barb on any fly I’ve tied in 25 years. All my fishing is c&r; if I’m after meat, I’ll use a Texas Caddis on a surf rod.

Regards,
Scott

 

[DoesItFloat]

I try to buy barbless hooks to tie on and to use as trailers in winter. Still surprised there aren't that many available.

 

[Brute]

My buddy was evac’ed via helicopter off his boat after taking an 11/0 hook in the abdomen after pulling a mahi-mahi in (probably #50 from a log)…fortunately he had put on extra weight and had no organs impaled. We used to carry bolt cutters on our boat for similar situations…

 

[EmergingFisher]

Take an evening and catch a few perch or bluegill with a barbed treble hook to remind yourself why single barbless hooks make your life (and the fish's) a lot more pleasant.

 

[Chadk]

Depends. For normal fly fishing C&R - 100% barbless. If I'm catching dinner, especially if I'm with the kids who love to bring home dinner, I'll use barbs or at least not worry if it has one once tied on. Then again, if we are casting in close proximity to each other - barbless!

Also depends on where and what I'm fishing for. For example, are there juvenile salmon or steelhead (parr, smolts, etc)? I try not to fish in areas I where I will be hooking more than one or two while targeting other things (like SRC).

Hook size is also a consideration. I've seen tiny wild trout and salmon or steelhead smolt with holes through the eye and clearly not going to do well... Big hooks do more damage than tiny barbed hooks sometimes.

Technique is also a big factor. I've seen some guys wrestle with a 12 inch trout for several minutes, grabbing, squeezing, dropping, etc - just trying to get a basic lip hook out.

I prefer to do the hook removal first thing with the fish in the net. As soon as the fish is secure in the net, release tension! (or raise the risk of getting hooked...), then keep it in the water, grab the tippet and carefully pull to clearly see where the fish is hooked. Find the bend in the hook. Grab this with homostats. Give a quick twist away from the point - done. (If at some point the fish thrashes, just let go of the tippet and cradle it a bit more with the net.) Now secure the hook and rod. Now you can focus on the fish. Quick pic if desired, and release. I don't prefer hero shot selfies. If someone is with me, a quick pic, but this isn't usual. But I do like pics of the kids with their fish.