To Barb or Not To Barb

[flyingmonkie]

Saw a few posts about this with interesting [to me] responses.  Curious what the numbers look like.

Sorry... Just realized the second question is required.  I guess the accuracy of that question is out the window.

[Cgrinder]

Barbless EVERYTHING! Less harm to fish, less harm to plastics, and call me crazy but I seem to be getting better hook penetration.

[bigturtle]

you are getting better hook penetration since you are reducing the surface area of the point by a decent amount when you pinch it down. less hard hooksets.

 

Iv been using barbless on everything for quite a few years now

[Wind Knot]

I use barbs for bass because bass are really easy to unhook.  But for trout, bluegill, carp, etc. I mash down the barbs.

[U-boat Aficionado]

I pinch the barbs down to be more humane... to myself! Much easier to pull a barbless hook out of your hand. 

[Tracker22]

After catching a treble in my ring finger and watching the video of the guy with a treble in his upper lip I have pinched all the barbs on my treble hooks. I fish alone from a kayak and I would hate to cut a trip short over a stupid accident. 

[Crestliner2008]

The only rigging I use a hook with a barb is when I'm presenting a drop shot to deep water smallmouths. I've found through many years of practice, that a barbless ds hook will get thrown most of the time. Due mainly to the position of the weight, which gives the bass a tremendous amount of leverage on a jump. Something I've never been able to control. So, when I drop shot, I use the barb. For everything else I go barbless.

[MassYak85]

I use barbs always, but I am considering pinching down the barbs on all my ice fishing rigs this year to help release them faster. Don't want any frozen gills.