Barbless hooks?

[SMROA1983]

So I caught a nice 2.5 pound bass yesterday on a fluke. He choked the hook pretty bad and it didn’t really take me long to get it out and it wasn’t out of the water very long. As soon as I released it I knew it wasn’t going to make it. I felt guilty because I’ve had plenty of fish that  have a gutted the hook and I get it out and they swim away fine. Eventually a snapping turtle ended up eating the fish right near me. Has anyone had good luck crushing the barbs on the hooks or using barbless hooks. I just want to avoid having this happen again. 

[Cbump]

You didn’t retrieve the fish and keep It to clean? That’s illegal here. 

[crypt]

I pinch my barbs when I'm not fishing a tourney. I don't have any issues with losing fish on barbless hooks.

[PressuredFishing]

Part of fishing, barbless hooks often don't help for guthooking for me because the fish is still bleeding pretty bad from tugging him to the boat with a hook in his gut. Best way to solve guthookimg is to not let the fish sit with the plastic in his mouth, this can be achieved through more sensitive equiptment or just accepting an occasional fatality

[schplurg]

I use barbless sometimes, can't say it's ever lost me a fish. Caught my PB with one, and the runner up. I hear they are easier to remove from people as well  

[RDB]

7 hours ago, Cbump said:

You didn’t retrieve the fish and keep It to clean? That’s illegal here. 

This is one of those difficult to interpret Texas laws.  Unless there has been a change fairly recently that I am not aware of, the law falls under “waste of game” and describes dead or wounded as applicable (not just fish…any game).  Dead is dead but what is considered a wounded fish?   Also, if it is a slot lake, a slot fish can’t go in the livewell…you better release it immediately.  Telling the game warden it was dead or dying is going to do you no good.  I asked several game wardens who told me that if it’s alive, just get it back in the water unless you are confident it has no chance (again, how do you define that).  If it ends up belly up and you see it, you should retrieve it (unless slot).  Historically, I have seen this most often applied to tournament culling.  Not disagreeing with you, just pointing out how poorly the law is written.  
 

Edit:  To the OP’s question, if you are going to fish, this is occasionally going to happen.  Do your best to care for the fish properly and accept that sometimes you get an unintended outcome.  Snapping turtles have to eat too.

[suzuki2903]

Yep makes life easier for you and the fish. I’ll do that for wacky rigs often because that’s the only time I’ve had fish inhale the whole bait then have to deal with trying to get it out safely. 

[Sphynx]

You WILL lose more fish this way, if that is something you are comfortable with then absolutely proceed with using barbless hooks. Laws notwithstanding, my philosophy is pretty simple for this stuff, fish die all the time for all kinds of reasons, and they are consumed as energy by another creature from the snooter to the pooter and absolutely nothing goes to waste, even the bones get broken down and release nutrients to be absorbed by plants and bacteria etc...now the deliberate attempt to kill and waste fish is one thing, but the occasional fish that gets hooked and bellies up later on is for all intents and purposes just another dead fish that will get consumed by the cycle of life. The only 100% foolproof method of guaranteed no dead fish I know of is to quit fishing entirely, the occasional fish not making it is the cost to play our game, and it's one that you have to square with if you choose to play, eat them yourself, or leave them to be eaten by something else, there's no such thing as wasted unless your indiscriminately killing with intent to waste.

[roadwarrior]

25 minutes ago, Sphynx said:

You WILL lose more fish this way...

 

If you fish for trophy bass, this is a terrible choice. For little fish, what does it matter?

[GetFishorDieTryin]

Crushing barbs shouldn't hurt your landing ratio very much at all.  As long as you keep a bend the rod you wont have problems losing fish.  

Crushing the barb wont stop a gut hook.  It just decreases the tissue damage, which in some cases can be the difference between the fish living or dying.

[Capriceragtop]

I always crush my barbs. Yea, I've lost a few fish, but those I do land unhook quickly. And if I ever do hook myself, it shouldn't be too bloody to remove.

[Sphynx]

1 hour ago, roadwarrior said:

 

If you fish for trophy bass, this is a terrible choice. For little fish, what does it matter?

Personally? I say do whatever let's you sleep at night, not my choice to make for anyone other than myself, and anyone using my tackle.

[The Bassman]

I fish trebles barbless, singles barbed. My reasoning is twofold; 1. For my safety. I'm pulling trebles out of me pretty regularly especially with smaller bass. 2. Makes finessing a hook out of gills a lot simpler. Blood vessels still get lanced sometimes regardless.

[Mbirdsley]

Unfortunately this is part of the game that we play.  This is a blood sport.  As long as you don’t make a habit of it you did nothing wrong.  What you did does not fall under the wantone waste rules that most state have. meaning killing a fish just to kill it.  
 

The stored energy and protein in that fish went to feed the snapper and other organisms in the lake. The circle of life continues. 

[JMac603]

15 hours ago, Sphynx said:

You WILL lose more fish this way, if that is something you are comfortable with then absolutely proceed with using barbless hooks. Laws notwithstanding, my philosophy is pretty simple for this stuff, fish die all the time for all kinds of reasons, and they are consumed as energy by another creature from the snooter to the pooter and absolutely nothing goes to waste, even the bones get broken down and release nutrients to be absorbed by plants and bacteria etc...now the deliberate attempt to kill and waste fish is one thing, but the occasional fish that gets hooked and bellies up later on is for all intents and purposes just another dead fish that will get consumed by the cycle of life. The only 100% foolproof method of guaranteed no dead fish I know of is to quit fishing entirely, the occasional fish not making it is the cost to play our game, and it's one that you have to square with if you choose to play, eat them yourself, or leave them to be eaten by something else, there's no such thing as wasted unless your indiscriminately killing with intent to waste.

This 100%. I hate killing fish accidentally so I do crush my barbs and accept the ones I lose. If I'm fishing to eat, the barbs stay. I don't lose many barbless, though. When they do die, I'll eat them if the water temps are low enough but otherwise just accept that something else will. I still get bummed out, but not enough to stop fishing. It's like taking any other animal for food - I still cry/tear up almost every time but I don't want to lose that as I feel connected to what's giving me sustenance. 

[soflabasser]

My experience has taught me that barbed hooks are better than barbless hooks. I prefer using barbed hooks, especially for big bass, tarpon, and other fish that jump. If using barbless hooks makes you happy then go for it.

[Fallser]

Most of my hooks are either barbless or the barb is crushed.  In fact, I'm in the process of replacing the trebles on my lures with barbless trebles for my trip to Ontario in late August.  I haven't crushed the barbs on my jigs yet.  Still up in the air on that, since I use soft plastics, and sometimes bait with them.  I'm mainly a fly fisher, and all my flies are barbless, including the small jigs I tie some of my bass flies on.

  Main reasons, easier to get the hook(s) out of me or my clothes and of course the fish.  Easier to get out of the net if the lure gets tangled.   Often easier to get out of snags or hang ups. A lot of the lakes I fish for bass have chain pickerel, musky and sometimes pike in them easier to unhook them quickly.

  Will I lose more fish, possibly, but I haven't lost many hooked on lures with barbless trebles.  Most of my lost fish have been on flies, but as I think about it, it's not really the barbless hooks, but how I'm fighting the fish whether it's with a fly rod or spinning rod.  As I've improved my fighting technique the number of lost fish, particularly with the fly rod have gone down.   

[BustedSwimbait]

I always crush down my barbs, just helps me get the hook out faster (whatever its stuck in) and the fish back in the water.