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Posts: 8782
| I've been on the fence about this for a couple years now, and I can't make up my mind.
For the ease of unhooking a fish, (and myself if necessary) it seems like a no-brainer. If it saves me a trip to the hospital, a few lost fish will seem trivial.
But then what if it's a BIG one? What if that once-in-a-lifetime fish throws the hooks at boatside, leaving me standing there in disbelief that I would ever be so stupid as to remove the part of the hook designed to prevent that from happening?
Anybody out there tried going barbless? Do you pinch them down, or file them off completely, like with a dremel? Are you losing more fish? | |
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| I was forced to pinch the barbs on the D10s I threw at night by Kevin Cochran...he was finding too many big ski's would engulfe them at nite and it made unhooking much easier...
Didn't lose any fish with the pinched barbs...so, I will do it on the ones I throw at nite...when you are slow rolling something like that it's way to easy for them to get way down and could cost a big one it's life...
Kevin is a big time advocate of doing this on all bucktails thrown at nite...and he has his reasons...
imo it is smart move...now on other baits? no way...barbs stay on. | |
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Posts: 61
Location: Sioux Lookout On Canada | Barbless seems like the perfect thing. It is our fear of losing fish that keeps the barbless gear "on the bench" so to speak. I guess if the tackle manufactures only made barbless we would eventually settle for it. This would be a huge wave through the fishing community. I believe the province of Manitoba has barbless rules. Friends I know, do not complain and actually show up in Ontario with their barbless tackle.
I have not had much experience with barbless, but, the times I have used them, the unhooking is very easy. Even still, too many times I have had fish spit the baits with all of the barbs!
Neil Michelin | |
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Posts: 2
| Has anyone here ever tried the Sickle Hooks from Matzuo for Musky? When I want to go barbless for Bass, Walleye, and Northerns, these are the hooks that I prefer. I find the angled corner of the Sickle holds the fish on the hook much better that the round bend style. | |
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Posts: 199
Location: Anchorage | A few years ago In-Fisherman did a very detailed article studying the effectiveness of barbless hooks. They found that the increased width of the hook caused by the barb often led to the hook not penetrating past the barb, especially when in a hard or bony part of the mouth. In turn, the barbless hooks penetrated much deeper. Obviously, if the barb penetrates tissue, it is more effective at holding its place if the line goes slack. However, most adept fisherman can prevent slack line 99.9% of the time. These studies were done on 'eyes, and smallies, but logic would conclude that with larger hooks and wider barb gaps, coupled with the extremely bony mouth of a muskie, pinching barbs makes sense for keeping fish glued as well. The safety reasons for both angler and fish regarding pinching barbs are obvious.
I have pinched my barbs down for 3 seasons following an ER visit that would not have been necessary with barbless hooks.
I have kept the barbs on my trolling baits though. A control thing I guess. There is a time when a fish is on and the rod is not in my hand. I like the comfort of knowing there is a safety net if the line somehow goes slack while the rod is still in the holder. Its something I'd like to get over. | |
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| when a musky choose to charge the boat at more than 50f per seconds i am sure of 1 thing more than 99.9% of fisherman will dream of hooks whit barbs | |
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Posts: 67
| If I was having 6 -7 mid thirties fish days, perhaps.... But, I've seen some huge fish, and I know 50+ inch fish are a totally different beast. Giving them an additional advantage going barbless? No way! Besides, Knipex cutters cut so well!
Not that 57 x 33 fish are common, but Dale's fish only had one hook left in him when he landed it .....and it wasn't barbless!
s54 | |
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| There is no doubt pinching the barbs down will help you get those hooks to penetrate better than hooks with barbs. You might loose a few fish because of pinched barbs, maybe, but you will defanitley have a higher hookup ratio with pinched barbs like the In-Fisherman article suggested. Also, once you use the knipex on a hook its sometimes tough to get that leftover barbed hook point out. Pinch them down and you might not need to use the Knipex. Anybody that has fished double 10s after dark knows muskies INHALE them. Other than single hook sucker rigs, it wouldn't be surprising if double tens after dark are the most deadly (in a bad way) musky fishing method. Like bn said, if nothing else pinching the barbs on your double 10s is a good idea. | |
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Location: Northern Wisconsin | i pinch down the hooks on all my musky baits. few reasons
- i would like there to be less damage and easier removal of a hook that gets stuck in my hand or where ever. Experienced it before with barbed hooks and it wasn't fun.
- i think its easier on the fish. Second musky i caught was when i still used barbed hooks. Lure came off in the net and the hook got caught in its stomach and it wouldn't come out very easily. took a lot of time in the net and probably damage to the fish to remove the hook. Felt very bad, even though the musky did swim away slowly. Had cheap bolt cutters back then too. (have knipex now).
- I know delayed mortality is bound to happen i feel i can cut down on it with barbless hooks. The hooks will come out very easy and it shortens the amount of time the fish is in the net. I watch shows on TV and those guys spend almost always double the time i spend on unhooking muskies, probably because i use barbless hooks. i like to know i unhooked the musky and took the picture in as little of time as possible to ensure a safe release.
- i have lost a few musky but i dont think it has ever been due to barbless hooks. most i dont think ever had the hooks in good at all so barbed surly wouldnt have helped. | |
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Location: Green Bay, WI | 100% pinched-down barbs in my boat now. Ever since we spent 15-20 minutes trying to remove that last hook down the throat of a 53+" fish... We put her back in the water every minute, but it still took us quite a bit of time to free the last hook. Two days later, we caught 51" and 49" fish, both on barbless hooks. And the 49" was foul-hooked with one hook in her side, just in back of the gill cover. I fought that fish for at least 10 minutes in 2-3 foot chop, and she went under the boat and around the trolling motor. But we still got her. Unhooking both fish took less than 5 seconds.
I am firmly convinced that pinching the barbs down is the way to go, and do not believe for one second that these hooks will penetrate any differently than with barbs. Barbed hooks go all the way through the soft tissue in the mouth anyway, and any hook can penetrate only as far as the curve of the hook. And the whole argument about the hooks going in & out of the fish's tissue repeatedly...ya, right. That would happen once, and it'd be an automatic release (sans photo at the end).
Delayed mortality is a VERY real concern when dealing with huge fish. They simply inhale the lure, and they are quite challenging to release in a timely fashion. If I can cut minutes off the release time, then the fish will obviously do that much better. After catching that foul-hooked angry fattie on one barbless hook harpooned into her side, there's simply nothing that will convince me to go back to barbed hooks.
All the barbs on my hooks are pinched down.
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thoughts on barbless hooks...