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Barbed or Barbless. What's your opinion?


Baronizer

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Not for the first time I agree with Leon - it's horses for courses and depends on the species/circumstances. It also depends on the size and design of the hooks themselves.

 

In my experience barbless hooks tend to do less damage on unhooking (especially by inexperienced anglers), whilst barbed hooks can do more damage during striking and playing.

 

Why barbed hooks cause more damage then is often debated.

 

Some years ago I was also of the opinion that there should be no differences between barbed and barbless hooks, with for instance each penetrating equally. However, like a number of other experienced perch anglers, I found that barbless hooks were causing some perch deaths. Obviously I was wrong, so what could the problem be?

 

At the time I was in the tackle trade and so talked about the matter with a hook manufacturer.

 

They pointed out that hooks often go in at an angle and thus, although the distance penetrated is the same, the point of the hook doesn't always reach that far below the surface of the skin.

 

However the angle can subsequently change, especially during the playing of the fish. A barbed hook would tend to stay in the same place and at the same angle. On the other hand a barbless one would be more likely to move and thus the angle change, with the point of the hook possibly ending up further from the surface.

 

Additionally, as barbless hooks can move about more easily, they would be more likely to pierce vital organs anyway.

 

This suggestion seemed to be a logical explanation.

 

However, whatever the reason, what to me is more important is results in the field - and these showed that barbless hooks are not the best for perch.

 

Only a tiny barb seems to be needed, and in fact the pattern of hook I prefer for perch fishing has a miniscule one. In fact the barb on the size 6 is about the same size as a normal microbarbed size 16!

 

Having said that the state of the mouths of some UK fish is deplorable. This is all too often the case on overfished waters where fish are caught repeatedly, especially by beginners. If I managed a commercial water (God forbid!) I might well insist on barbless hooks for this reason.

 

On the other hand, an increasing number of specimen waters are now banning barbed hooks.

 

At Wingham I allow a free choice on the Carp Lake as it doesn't contain perch. However the Coarse Lake does, and here I ban barbless hooks above size 10. In each case I state that I prefer microbarbs.

 

So if you want to come to the next Forum Fish-In at Wingham, you'll either have to obey the fishery rules or I'm afraid decide not to come!

 

[ 27. August 2004, 09:38 PM: Message edited by: Steve Burke ]

Wingham Specimen Coarse & Carp Syndicates www.winghamfisheries.co.uk Beautiful, peaceful, little fished gravel pit syndicates in Kent with very big fish. 2017 Forum Fish-In Sat May 6 to Mon May 8. Articles http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/steveburke.htm Index of all my articles on Angler's Net

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Steve Burke:

.

 

At Wingham I allow a free choice on the Carp Lake as it doesn't contain perch.  However the Coarse Lake does, and here I ban barbed hooks above size 10.

:confused: :confused:

 

Is that a slip of the keyboard Steve?

 

I thought it was BARBLESS hooks above size 10 that were banned.

 

 

RNLI Governor

 

World species 471 : UK species 105 : English species 95 .

Certhia's world species - 215

Eclectic "husband and wife combined" world species 501

 

"Nothing matters very much, few things matter at all" - Plato

...only things like fresh bait and cold beer...

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Whoops! Yes, it's barbless hooks above size 10 that I ban. Now corrected. Thanks, Vagabond.

Wingham Specimen Coarse & Carp Syndicates www.winghamfisheries.co.uk Beautiful, peaceful, little fished gravel pit syndicates in Kent with very big fish. 2017 Forum Fish-In Sat May 6 to Mon May 8. Articles http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/steveburke.htm Index of all my articles on Angler's Net

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I now use barbed with the barb crushed. As others have found, the use of barbless in the bigger sizes causes much more damage, acting almost like a cheese wire at times

Tight Lines,

 

Wearyone

 

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So presumably there's a place for large hooks with a flat blunt triangular bit where the barb would normally be?

This would stop the hook rotation business even better than a barb (what with the extra surface area), but still allow easy hook removal/shedding?

Bleeding heart liberal pinko, with bacon on top.

 

 

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Hi All,

Just another slant on this discussion.

Some of the damaged caused by using barbless hooks has nothing to do with the hook it self, but by the way the angler plays the fish because of it.

Some anglers using heavy braids on heavy rods, play small carp very hard, because they are afraid that the hook will fall out if they don't.

If you transfer the stress point to the fishes mouth rather than the tackle during playing it, that is where the damage will happen.

So the comments earlier about torn mouths being caused by barbed hooks could just as easily be transposed to the opposite.

 

I agree mostly with what Leon says.

 

One other consideration about damaged caused, is the amount of time that different kinds of damage take to heal.

Try sticking a point into your own skin and wiggle it around a lot turning it.

Just like Peters Orange you get a neat round hole with the edges worn.

The tear that happens with a barbed hook, will heal in far less time than the deep worn hole of a barbless hook.

The real damage comes from infection, so healing time is far more important than small immediate damage.

 

 

……………Liam

"Wisdom is the knowledge of how little we know"

Barbelangler.co.uk

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