Barbless hooks

[Paul Arden]

I was shocked to find out that 80% of fly fishing Tasmanians still fish barbed hooks. These are good and experienced fishermen too. Hopefully I’ve done a small part in changing this.

Are there other places that this still happens?

Cheers, Paul

[Paul Arden]

Another big thing while I’m thinking about it is what sort of nets we use and how we use them. We really should be promoting soft knotkess nets that are big enough to act as cages while we sort ourselves out. I’ll shoot sone.video to show what I mean.

There is a lot of work to be done.

[TrevH]

I would be interested in knowing what proportion of UK fly fishers still use barbed hooks.

There are still hooks that you can get barbed but with no barbless equivalent, including from a UK brand. I assume that must be because there is a bigger market for the barbed versions than the barbless.

[Paul Arden]

When I say barbless for me that means I fish de-barbed. I have done for over 20 years now. In Tassie they have this myth that barbless lose more fish. I don’t believe that. I had just assumed that all good anglers fish barbless nowadays. That’s what happens when you live in the jungle!

Cheers, Paul

[steelehead]

It is still some sort of tabou to fish barbless on some rivers. From my experience, most flyfisher-managed rivers require to fish barbless (flyboxes will be controlled), whereas on rivers managed by "common anglers" this requirement does not exist - at least in Germany. It is a shitty rule, especially if you catch plenty of smaller fish that you have to handle and pluck from the hook.
If I cannot get barbless hooks for tying I debarb them with pliers, they become bumped hooks - generally I do prefer fishing barbless, especially if I want to longline-release smaller fish.

Nets: I do not like nets but have to carry them according to fishing rules on many rivers. If avoidable I do not use the net for handling fish, it is just stuck in my belt and reminds me to keep my back straight.
I like those modern soft transparent nets, but have to find one that does not look like a frying pan (considering the depth of the net). Guess by "cages" you mean nets big/deep enough to keep a fish fully submerged- and save from jumping out - while sorting your stuff to find forceps et al. That's something I miss with the modern "ghostnet"-style nets, only the double-hander guide versions seem to be big enough for that...

[Paul Arden]

Yes Christian, that’s exactly the sort of net. I modify mine by buying oversized nets to replace the ones they normally come with. I’ll take some photos.

Cheers, Paul

[ACW]

Andy and most of his mates fish squashed barbed hooks,I have been a fan of debarbed hooks for a good 20 years,even my salmon doubles get the treatment.No more trebles for me even the debarbed one are a bother for unhookingfor a rapid return for the fish.
Slowly moving onto barbless ,but with the selection of hooks aquired over the years I have so many barbed hooks to go through.
best thing about debarbed and barbless is its easy to remove from my flesh/clothing ect.Memories of going to A&E with a barbed buzzer in my finger help me in my squashing.
As too nets far to many floating about ,all in use have big soft bags,even my latest aquisition a Hardy Superlite,always wanted one back in the early resser days ,never had the cash back then .
BTW thanks for getting me back on line with the board Paul.

[t.z.]

I fish barbless mainly from a safety point of view. She happens and getting a barbless hook out from a sweater, waders or worse skin or eyes is much easier than removing barbed hook. I have not lost one fish due to that. I even think that barbless hooks penetrate better.

It's also more efficient during a hatch and when the fishing is really on. In the same time I'd fiddle with removing a barbed hook from a fish I can catch another one.

I recon mortality rate is lesser with released fish too, but that's more a feeling, but there is no doubt that it's less stress.

I use have used Partridge barbless but are using more and more Ahrex hooks. Their new freshwater series is really nice.

(P.S. - I fish "trout" mostly.)

[Paul Arden]

That’s great to know Andy. I thought i was going mad there for a minute!

[Boisker]

I started fly fishing about 8 or 9 years ago, but like many in the U.K. I grew up coarse fishing on rivers then had close to a 20 yr gap before taking up fly fishing. In my teens during the 1980’s I coarsed fish with barbless hooks, which were already becoming popular.... I couldn’t believe 20 yrs later that fly fishing was still so dominated by barbed hooks.... certainly in terms of flies available to purchase, although it has improved. It was what encouraged me to get into fly tying initially.

You still hear the same bullish!t posts on forums about how barbless cause more damage and how they cause you to lose more fish....

I think barbless is a probably pretty much routine for many rivers in England, certainly is for rivers in SW England, some are C&R only some follow the national fish size requirements and set limits for fish taken, nearly all the stretches I fish are barbless only and C&R.

Net- I used to use a small wooden scoop net, but after a trip to NZ where I picked up a Macleans hand weight net with the rubber bag, I now use this in the U.K.. It does look a bit big for most of the fish I catch, but the net is large, deep and holds its shape.... the fish have loads of room to recover, it felt a bit overkill at first for the U.K., but having noticed just how beneficial it is for the fish I’ll stick with it.