Horrible Experience With Lipless Cranks

[joshholmes]

i was fishing last week since the spawn was in full swing at my lake. bass were everywhere. i was fishing a rat-l-trap with a sunfish pattern to match the nest robbers i was seeing everywhere. after catching my first largemouth i went to lip it. then the fish had a second wind and started to swim off again. the rat-l-trap hooks ended up grabbing my finger and the bass pulled them in past the barb. sadly my nana was standing right by me and made a huge fit about having 2 treble hooks on a lipless crank. even after i explained you needed them for the heavy compact bait she made me promise to only use barbless hooks from now on. i had to use my pliers to get the hooks out and i had to sit out for 20 minutes while my nana made sure to clean and disinfect it. what i later realized was that i was actually getting more hookups on barbless hooks and havent had any lost fish on them yet. i suggest if you fish a lot of lipless cranks give barbless hooks a try. it'll be better for the fish and your hand when you have to remove a hook. it's also good for baits like flukes to use barbless hooks.

[Sam]

Hey Josh,

Sorry to hear about your problem but it has or will happen to all of us sooner or later.

I had to go to a doctor to have crankbait hooks removed from my finger.

Never used barbeless hooks but I may look for them and give them a try.

Thanks for sharing your story.

[BASS fisherman]

Ouch!, it happens to everyone eventualy.

You just have to becareful when your reaching for a mouthful of hooks. From your post it sounds like you reach into the water and lip the bass with a crank in its mouth. The best thing to do is pull the fish out of the water before you grab it.

Other ideas:

Instead of lipping the fish, grab it behind the shoulders. It stops the fish from moving and you can easily remove the lure.

Another thing you may think about is investing in a set of fish grippers. They make them cheaper where they look like a plastic pair of pliers with a big oversized gripper on it.

http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shops%c2%ae-Fish-Gripper-Pliers/product/52268/-1015015

Here is a more expensive option too:

http://www.basspro.com/Berkley%c2%ae-Big-Game-Digital-Lip-Grip/product/50327/-995319

That way if your fishing lures with too many hooks, you dont have to even come close to getting stuck again.

[grimlin]

Grippers and pliers are the way to go.The smaller bass I grab underneath them just behind the gills.

I've been lucky so far....never had a treble hook in me yet.Last time I had a hook in me was 25 years ago(I was 10)....It was a #2 worm hook.

[Dwight Hottle]

Buy a 15lb boga & you will never have that problem. And you will always know how much does this fish weigh?

[joshholmes]

well i had a landing net with me but i mainly use that if i accidentally catch a pike or pickerel. i'll definitly start using it more often. growing up i was always taught to lip bass because it makes it less likely for a fish to flop around and hurt itself in a net, but i guess a gripper fixes that problem and makes it safer for me

[NBR]

Josh,

I'm with you 100%. I've used pinched down barbs for over 40 years and those hooks come out of me, my clothes and make the release much faster. My one exception is spinner baits but I might even try that this year. No data to substantiate but I don't think I lose any more fish.

[clayton86]

At least it was your hand and not your face like happend to me 2 weeks ago.

Personaly I don't really see the need in barbs I don't think that extra 32th of a inch barb is gonna really stop a hook coming out of a fish tearing its mouth up anyways making biger holes usualy then that hook is poking. Look at worm fishing or any plastic I always see big tears in the fishes mouth where the hook was worked back and forth. A lot of times once liped the hooks come out without touching it

[Raul]

Think of it as ocupational hazard, I´ve been hooked several times, worst one was when accidentaly the fish slipped from my hand hooked me in the tumb and there I was with a jumpy 3 pounder firmly attached to my thumb.

[philsoreel]

Try telling my left thigh that removing the barb won't have any effect on a hook coming out or not. I was walking down the hall in my house with about 15 rod/reel combos in my hand (yes, it was stupid 4-5 is my limit now) when a rod tip got caught on a light fixture. As I tried to unhang it I ended up hanging one of the trebles of a rattle trap in my pants leg. When I took the next step forward I found out first-hand what a good hook-set feels like. The treble buried in just far enough that the barb was covered. We tried to pop it back out but that barb being maybe 1/32 of an inch deep wouldn't budge. I had to close my eyes and let my brother punch it on through (that hurt really bad) so we could snip the barbed end off with pliers. After the barb was removed, it slid right out with no resistance.

That was just one incident. I can't count the times I've landed a fish and a barb would be the only thing keeping the fish from coming off. You guy's can go barbless if you want to but I'm not buying it.

[Shad_Master]

On my third trip to the ER to have a crankbait removed - I was being worked on by a young intern - I had to explain the procedure to him - when he asked if I was a doctor, I said "no, this just ain't my first rodeo".

[philsoreel]

On my third trip to the ER to have a crankbait removed - I was being worked on by a young intern - I had to explain the procedure to him - when he asked if I was a doctor, I said "no, this just ain't my first rodeo".

Ain't that the truth. The last time I carried my father to the ER we decided to pocket the little glass vial of lidocaine. They throw them away and you are getting charged for the whole thing so why not. Next time I have to remove one from myself I'll be good and numbed up.

[L a r r y]

Ouch....sorry to hear that. But this is one reason why whenever I purchase anything with treble hooks, I remove the barbs. My ole lady sits there and shakes her head at the tedious amount of time I take on removing them, but I explain to her, that if I catch a hook in me, I can remove it easier, plus, when I catch a fish, if it is deep hooked, I can get the hooks out easier and get the fish back to his friends and family in the water.

[manny729]

Ive had that happen to me a few times but i still use barbed. The worse one that happened to me was that my sister caught a big tilapia on a silver shad rap. I went to take the hook out is mouth and fish fish flapped at that very moment. The hook went into the side of my nail and the barb went in. The bad thing is that i play a steal string guitar and my finger tips are really hard. So it took me about 10 min to push the treble out the other side and cut it off. Just gotta be a little more careful.

[krisjack69]

How do u remove the barb.

[clayton86]

Just rip it out barb and all that's what I had to do a few weeks ago plus it was in my face I guess if I was better looking I woulda not done it that way but what the heck I'm already married haha. Iv never hooked my hands while landing a fish though but I have and almost every trip for that mater poke my finger tips till they bleed by either not looking what I'm doing when I reach into the little pouch hooks come in or not looking at the box full of lures with new trebles when I reach down and grab. None never get stuck at least not bad they usualy come off when I go oh sh.... and fling my hand lol

[L a r r y]

How do u remove the barb.

What I do is take either a pair of wire cutters, or a pair of needle nose pliers, and right where the barb starts to extend, I use the wire cutters to press it down towards the shank, and then you will hear a "POP" and that will be the barb coming off. Don't get over zealous and gorilla grip the wire cutters and squeeze too hard and pop the hook.

[Shad_Master]

What I do is take either a pair of wire cutters, or a pair of needle nose pliers, and right where the barb starts to extend, I use the wire cutters to press it down towards the shank, and then you will hear a "POP" and that will be the barb coming off. Don't get over zealous and gorilla grip the wire cutters and squeeze too hard and pop the hook.

Well, sort of - if the hook is straight in where it may have penetrated a tendon or something - you really do need medical help to get it out - after deadening the area, the doctor will insert a small blade along the path of the shank of the hook and lay it on the barb allowing the whole hook to be pulled back out. This is not something that a lay person should try to do.

[L a r r y]

Well, sort of - if the hook is straight in where it may have penetrated a tendon or something - you really do need medical help to get it out - after deadening the area, the doctor will insert a small blade along the path of the shank of the hook and lay it on the barb allowing the whole hook to be pulled back out. This is not something that a lay person should try to do.

I apologize if my response was misleading. I was talking about removing the barbs right after they are taken out of the packaging, not when they have been imbedded into someone

[krisjack69]

I apologize if my response was misleading. I was talking about removing the barbs right after they are taken out of the packaging, not when they have been imbedded into someone

Yep u were answering my question on removing the barbs.I have not really gotten hooks in me.I have been stuck with em and my shorts gotten holes in em when I try to remove it cause the barn wont let come back thru which is the intended purpose for the fish.I just never removed barbs before and was wondering how to do it.I saw jimmy houston tv show one day showing how but I since forgot since I never tried.

[joshholmes]

just pinch them down with a needle nose pliers

[OkobojiEagle]

... or remove them with a file during the winter.

oe

[Crestliner2008]

A few years back I started mashing down the barbs on all my crankbaits. Got tired of fish eye injuries, especially when using hard jerkbaits. The only hooks in my box now that still keep their barbs are my drop shot hooks.

[deaknh03]

Got a treble hook in the back of my right hand, under the tendon to my middle finger, with a bass on the other treble. Tried to cut the skin open to get it out,tried pulling it, finally had to go to the ER,looked funny with a heddon torpedo dangling off the back of my hand.

[Hamby]

Had a little pike put a big treble of a large jointed rapala through the back of my finger. Had my brother freaking out when the fish was flopping all over the place while attached to my hand and i was telling him to grab the fish. Finally came off and swam away leaving me with the lure. The skin on the back of my finger is so stretchy that the fish didn't push the barb all the way. It didn't hurt at all though...i didn't feel a thing. Didn't bleed either. Surprising since i thought that fish was going to rip the back of my finger wide open with all the flopping it was doing.