Barbed or Barbless. What's your opinion?

[J.K]

I would say both have there place in the fishing world. both have good and bad points but the thing that really counts is both will catch fish

[Jon Hedges]

I am starting to think that barbed (micro) might be the way forward due to one incident I had recently with tearing (though that may have been the hook pattern (or even me)). I shall try the hook pattern again at a different venue but if I get the same problem then I'll try a different pattern. If I get the same problem on a different pattern then I switch to microbarbs for good

[lardvader]

So are barbless hooks more likely to 'cause fish damage then? I always use barbless hooks, partly because a lot of fisheries specify them but mostly because I was under the impression that they were kinder to the fish. I have had the odd fish damaged with a little tearing, which has caused me distress to see but I'm not sure why this happens. Is it the wrong hook shape, I guess that's what you mean by pattern? Have I struck to hard or am I playing the fish too much. I certainly don't try to get it on the bank as fast as I can which I understand is one of the chief reasons for damage?

[J.K]

barbed ( micro ) would be used for big fish incase of deep hooking... easier to get out etc

 

with small fish barbless would be safer.

[Tyke]

I too tend to use barbless for silverfish and crushed barbed for carp or worm fishing.

[Jem]

i always use barbless, much better on the fish and quicker to un hook the fish, so the fish is returned to the water a lot quicker

imho all venues should have the barbless hook rule as ive seen for to many fish with missing lips due to anglers not removing barbed hooks correctly

[Guest sslatter]

Barbless..

 

Just as with the silicone float adaptor, I can barely remember what life was like before barbless hooks..

[Peter Waller]

Leon Roskilly:

For some species, for some situations, barbless are best, for other species, for other situations barbed hooks are safest.

Tight Lines - leon

Leon, I feel an article or indepth posting from your goodself coming on here! Can you elucidate please?

[Guest allibee]

Jem:

ive seen for to many fish with missing lips

That you may well have

quote:

---

due to anglers not removing barbed hooks correctly

That you can only assume

[Leon Roskilly]

Peter Waller:

Leon, I feel an article or indepth posting from your goodself coming on here! Can you elucidate please?

A barbless hook penetrates far more efficiently, yet holds less well than a barbed hook.

 

For an inexperienced angler, hooking small fish (where the hook is likely to penetrate right through the lip and hold the fish on the bend) barbless will usually lead to less damage when the angler unhooks the fish.

 

Unhooking with a barbed hook is a little trickier to learn, and can lead to mouth damage if not done properly.

 

Unhooking may also be faster, important if catching many silverfish/small carp during a match.

 

However, when hooking a large soft-mouthed fish, that fight hard, especially where there is plenty of weed or snags around, and heavy gear needs to be used to hook and hold (OK I know that experienced anglers can slacken line and gently guide a fish away from danger, but that requires experience and courage!), a barbless hook, especially of relatively fine wire, is more likely to drag through the soft flesh of a large mouth, tearing as it goes.

 

Then there are perch and eels.

 

Both with vital organs close to the throat and which tend to take a bait deep.

 

For these fish you really don't want a hook to penetrate deeply on the strike, or during the fight.

 

A barbed hook is safer, and anyway holds a wriggling lobworm far better than a barbless hook.

 

Barbless for dace in a swirling current?

 

You'd be mad! Gotta be microbarbed.

 

And pike? Hard bony mouths with few places for the hook to efficiently engage.

 

The penetration of barbless is a real advantage ((though I prefer to use crushed barbs for their greater holding power and lower tendency to slip and cause damage, and they sometimes do).

 

With trebles, usually more than one point engages, so the pressure on the each point is less and you need the increased penetration to compensate, and with so many points you are much more likely to have to remove a hook from your own flesh. Barbless is good

 

We could go on, but I don't want to debate the finesse of every species and every situation, just point out that an angler needs to learn how to use, and unhook using, both barbed and barbless, and assess the competing advantages disadvantages of both so that an imperfect decision can be made taking into account species, size, conditions, tackle, hook size, type of bait etc

 

Barbed, barbless, microbarbed, crush-barbed, circle hooks, J hooks.

 

All are part of an anglers armoury.

 

Learn how to use each, when and why to select each.

 

If you only fish for small carp and silverfish, fine - always use barbless.

 

But don't take that dogma with you wherever you go.

 

Sometimes you will be right and sometimes you will be wrong and that ain't always good enough.

 

Tight Lines - leon