Barbed Vs Barbless For Keeping Fish Hooked

[The Bassinator]

Are there any articles on this subject that deal with hookup to landing ratios not just damage to fish. If anyone has any personal experience on the matter feel free to chime in too.

[Gatorbassman]

I fish barbless when fishing with soft plastics all of the time and so do all of my clients and it is very rare to loose a fish even when the line goes slack.

[zachb34]

I dont think the barb matters when fishing plastics but on cranks they do get thrown more often.

[The Bassinator]

So would both of you say that barbed hooks are necessary on baits with treble hooks? Also when fish jump which would you prefer?

[zachb34]

yes I prefer barbs on any of my treble hooked lures. Plastics on the other hand the only thing the barb really helps with is keeping the bait skin hooked but its not a huge issue. As long as you keep slack out of your line when they jump you shpuld be fine but even if you dont most times it stays hooked.

[jignfule]

I use barbless on soft plastics. I loss a few, but for me the barbless does far less damage to the fish, so it's worth it for me. I have lost some nice fish on the jump though.

[Wayne P.]

Most of the time a thrown bait is due to the barb preventing the hook from penetrating to the hook bend. The barb also makes a hole in the fish that is larger than the hook shank. IF you can consistantly get hook penetration past the barb then it does have some value for hard baits or heavy softbaits like swimbaits. It has more negatives for light soft plastics.

The only other benefits of a barb is keeping live bait on the hook and holding a wire weedguard in place.

[Gatorbassman]

So would both of you say that barbed hooks are necessary on baits with treble hooks? Also when fish jump which would you prefer?

Yes, Barbs are inportant on any moving baits. Cranks, Spinners and Buzzbaits.

[PondHunter]

I pinch the barbs down on all my single hook lures. Started after I gut hooked a fish in my own pond and it died very quickly. Since then, I haven't lost another fish even if it was gut hooked. If you use the correct rod and keep it loaded, you wont lose any more fish being barbless.

[Scorcher214]

Much like everybody else, I only mash the barbs on single hook lures.

[zenyoungkoh]

I fish barbless hooks and it hardly make any difference in terms of landing ratios. I think it penetrates better and most of the time the fish's lips looks better when i release them. I dont however debarb treble hooked lures, but thats because im far too lazy to squash down 6 barbs.

[NBR]

I pinch the barbs on every thing and have for years. At one time I didn't on lipless cranks but now I include them and frankly I don't see the difference. Pinched barbs are so much easier to get out of the fish, me, my clothes, boat carpet and on and on. Easier to get out of the fish sounds like s contradiction to not making a difference in catch rates but when you take the hook out the line is slack and when a fish throws the hook the line is slack!

Manatoba has a barbless hook statute and I have never heard a complaint.

[Crestliner2008]

The only hook I leave the barbs on are my drop shot hooks. And that's because smallies (and LM) get nailed in the upper lip consistently with this presentation. As soon as they jump you have a good chance at loosing the fish.

All others, including trebles, I crush down the barbs, for two reasons. First, less damage to the fish and second, less damage to ME if I get accidentally nailed! And at my age, I don't really care if I loose a fish every now & again. The whole outdoor experience is what's important to me. But I will say this, a lot of lost fish, with treble lures, is probably more due to angler error vs whether or not the hooks are barbed. JMO.

[The Bassinator]

Since it seems like most of you use barbless hooks for soft plastics and some use barbless for pretty much all your baits I am going to do some experimenting myself. Im interested to found out how using barbed vs. barbless will affect me and my efficiency in catching bass. Ill keep you posted about my findings and maybe I can shed some light on the issue that hasn't already been discovered. Thanks for all the posts

[SissySticks]

After a bad experience two nights ago fishing 3" t-rigged senkos, having to cut 3 hooks off and let fish go with hooks still in them due to deep hooking and not wanting to kill the fish getting the hook out, I went through last night and crimped the barbs down on about 100 worm hooks. Killing fish in small reservoirs I fish in weekly is just not worth it for whatever minimal increase in catch rate the barb might give. Like Crestliner, I am still leaving the barbs on my DS hooks, b/c I rarely if ever hook fish deep with the drop shot and it is very easy for them to throw those small hooks.

[papajoe222]

I have cranks, top-water and other hard baits that I fish barbless. I do loose about 50% of the fish I hook up with, but I don't keep the fish I catch, so landing them isn't important to me. My fishing partner gets more upset than I do when one gets off because he likes to practice CPR.

That said, I always use hooks with barbs in a tourney for obvious reasons.

[OkobojiEagle]

I've been fishing totally barbless for quite a few years. I file the barbs off not to weaken the point. A barbless hook will penetrate easier so a firm pull is most often all that is needed to set the hooks. Knowing the bait is barbless keeps me more focused during the fight. Over the years I've found that I lose very few average to larger bass, but will lose some of the dinks. A little weight to set against appears to help keep the bass buttoned.

Earlier this summer a dink came unhooked as I had him pretty near the boat. My popper set itself bend deep through the columella (dig out your Funk & Wagnell's) of my nose. A fair amount of blood and my eyes didn't stop watering for a good while, but I thanked my mother for not raising fools and easily backed the treble out. Caught quite a few good smallies that evening... all in all a good night.

oe

[bassr95]

I fish barbless myself and really dont think it causes me to loose more fish. in my opinion, the most important thing is to get the hook set completly to the bend and barbs just make it harder to do that. as others have said, barbless hooks come out of me and my fish sooo much easier.