beginner

[Hairstacker]

Cory and Fly Angler -- welcome aboard!! Glad to have you guys here!

[Adam Grace]

Good advice guys.

Fish barbless, much easier to romove from skin and clothing. AND much easier to femove from the fish.

Fish a lot of caddis patterns for the HP(half pounders).

Here are some productive patterns, Fox's poopah, Z-wing caddis, BH Super Pupa, Emergent (dear hair wing dry fly) and Deep (weighted nypmh) sparkle pupas by Gary LaFontaine, elk hair caddis, E/C caddis.

Fish for the HP like you would for trout.

Swinging caddis pupa patterns can be a ton of fun.

Good Luck!

[Fly Angler]

I often wondered why the fly fishing industry dosen't go exclusively to barbless hooks. The shops could sell barbless flys and everyone would conform. We have preached barbless for many years as the responsible way to fish but we still sell flys with barbs.

Maybe if the shops added fifty cents to the price of a barbed fly people would have another incentive to use barbless.

[Darian]

That's a nice but somewhat unrealistic sentiment.... Don't want to start anything here, but....

Fishing hook manufacturers respond to demand.... As long as we (you and I) continue to purchase barbed hooks, I wouldn't expect things to change. Nor does it seem realistic to make Bill or any other fly shop owners take responsibility for charging a higher price for their products. They're in business to make a living/profit. That, in turn, enables them to stay in business and sell the stuff for us to go out and fish.

Besides, if the truth was known, most fisherman (fly fisherman too) fish with barbed hooks when they're using bait.... You know,.... on the dark side.... :P :P :P :P

[MSP]

Hell I even pinch down my barbs when I use a plastic worm did I say that

[cmaday]

Hey Everybody,
I just wanted to thank everybody who replied for all of the advice. It has been helpful. Maybe I'll see you on the river.