Barbless?!?!

[Charlie Gonzales]

Dropped three good fish last night, two were 10lbs+, one i would say was about 15. All were right at the boat while trying to get into position to lip them and they justed flipped off. But I did manage to boat three schoolies up to 5lbs. Two fish were on a rainbow clouser, the rest were on an I line and a jumbo rainbow Bisharat Airhead.

[David Lee]

That's some kind of luck ....??

Back when I fished Stripes (1999-2005) , I almost never dropped any , and never broke one off . I did have a huge one straighten a 3/0 EC-413 jighook into an 'L' shape once after a brutal , 8 minute fight ....

I made it a point to flatten all barbs , and hone hook points 'till they were fearsome to even look at -

What are the offending hooks , CG ??

David

[Phil Synhorst]

Dude, I feel for ya. I have yet to target Stripers, but when I go after Bass the question is always in the back of my mind, "should I have crushed those barbs?".

[Scott V]

I put a 2/0 clouser in my back on a windy day and luckily the barbed was crushed. That is why I will always crush my barbs, I would rather loose a fish then have to go to the hospital to have a hook removed and loose a day of fishing.

[Jgoding]

I feel for you Charlie. Were they a clients fish?? Were they hooked in the lip or inside? I've noticed with the few fish I've taken on an airhead type pattern they tend to hook in that soft tissue underneath the tongue and not catch solid in any hard parts or the ridge of the mouth. Might be why they pop out easy at the boat when the angle changes a little and you're trying to rotate the fish around to lip it, especially with a barbless hook.

I was fishing barbless Tuesday but I was using a hook riding up style fly and it was sticking the fish pretty solid in the upper mouth but would just fall/slide out without much resistance once the fish were landed.

[Phil Synhorst]

I put a 2/0 clouser in my back on a windy day and luckily the barbed was crushed. That is why I will always crush my barbs, I would rather loose a fish then have to go to the hospital to have a hook removed and loose a day of fishing.

Never had that happen(knock on wood), but that's why I crush 'em too.

[Ed Wahl]

I've fished barbless ever since I learned to fly fish. Mostly for the quick release aspect, of both the fish and myself. But then again I learned on trout. I'm not sure how the mortality rate stacks up on stripers, barbed vs barbless. I wouldn't even consider barbs for trout, much to delicate.

I'd kind of like to know how much more trouble is it to unhook a striper caught on a barbed hook, is it a consequential amount of time and jaw tweaking or no big deal?

Paul Egan, what say you?

Ed

[Dabalone]

I use barbless on stripers because of the easy release. Just makes good sense,you will no doubt hook up with lots of juvenile stripers and the barbless make it easy for a quick harmless release. Also, stripers are feisty critters when you get them in the boat and they are very good at giving you that hook right back. Yes, the larger size barbed hooks will do some damage if hooked in the softer tissue, trying to remove it from a flopping fish makes it even more likely. I have not noticed much difference in lost fish using barbless, you learn quickly to always keep a tight line.

[Charlie Gonzales]

Tight line for sure,but much easier to land em in the boat when you have a second set of hands. I use a fairly long leader when fishing I lines so that doesnt help either.

[paulegan81]

now this is a question i have asked myself a lot of times.......
I believe that if you hook yourself you should practice more before going fishing and you should not be throwing large sharp objects around your head......
I do not hook myself or anyone else except my brother once and he deserved it....... He caught my fish ha,ha...
but really after that I must have practiced for days on end to never throw a fly near anyone again....
so to sum up the issue of hooking yourself....
if you do it you deserve it and if some one hooks you, you also deserve it.... for fishing with them....


Now fish loss as to not getting them to the boat,...vs. damage to fish
now if you hook a small fish with a barb on the hook removing it could damage them very bad.... especially if they are foul hooked.
on some hooks mostly Eagle Claw 413 or 410 and some Gami.... jigs the hooks can be bent...while removing....
also on some hooks (large wire) with very large barbs... are hard to drive home.... if not pinched.....Round wire likeTmc 8089 or sim.. go in really easy even if the barb is still up..... SP points drive in so easy with or with out the barb.....

we had an event on the delta were Robin made a bad cast because her timing of a wave and hooked the crotch of her pants and I had to pinch the barb or cut her pants to get it out.... well I pinched the barb.... and within three cast she hooked and LOST the biggest fish of her life.....
so now she won't use a fly with the barb smashed......

I have started smashing most of my barbs lately on my deep striper flies Not on my top water striper or bass....
the reason is that a lot of fish have been taking the fly on the drop and getting it deep. with the fly is deep you can just push the eyes and then pull the leader lightly and it slides right out.

so I have not answered any of the questions......
pinch or not to pinch Hmmmmm...
I really don't have an answer.....
I think most fish are lost because of a poor hook set.
lots of things help the fish in this case......
line bend, rod to line angle , dull hooks and, the worst offender lifting the rod... now I know no true striper or black bass fisherman does that.
as for stress on the fish they are BASS and they will be fine.....
ripping a barbed hook out of their mouth will not kill them...
and does far less damage than COWBOYING them........
I don't care how big they are or, think they are.... don't give them any line....
Get them in quick and then take your time gett'n the hook out
enough from me
pinched or not
lets go fishing!!!!!!