Barb-less Hooks Do You Use Them?

[.D.]

I don't use the vice, I flatten the barb with pliers ..................

Ditto. At, not in the vice. Then if the hooks does for some reason snap at the barb, you don't waste time tying a fly on the remaining part of the hook. You tend not to end up unwittingly fishing flies with the barb still on that way too. I didn't actually realise anyone used the vice jaws themselves to flatten the barb . It's barely possible physically with some hooks anyway.

I tend to avoid hooks that crack at the barb ( the bump I referred to was just the slight lump where the barb presses back down onto the spear). I recall a lot of the older Partridge hooks being that way: Even the K14ST Oliver Edwards hook and the K12ST.  Not sure what those particular hooks are like now though.

I also avoid hooks with big barbs: a lot of the older Mustad models were almost impossible to debarb cleanly.



.D.

[Highlander]

I've de-barbed my hooks like this for over 20 years and I can honestly say I've never had a bit of hook fly off from a trout hook - the barb simply gets crushed. [/quote]

All I can say is you have been very lucky. A fly tying vice is what it says it is a device for holding hooks securely, Its no a hammer, it's no a multi tool & it is certainly no an Eclipse engineers vice. As hooks are tempered spring steel, they by design do not all "crush" bits will break off & can on occasion fly out especially under tension. Do as you wish it's your eyes. Nuff said.
Tight lines

[Sjo]

I hooked my wife once on a gold bead nymph. The hook went in her face, over the barb. It was painfull and difficult. Since then I mostly fish barbless or pinch down the barb.
It's also easier to remove the hook from clothes, nets etc
Sjo

[Clan Ford]

Its strange that I have a completely different experience of crushing barbs in the vice than others in the thread, so this evening I carried out a not very scientific experiment.

I tie my flies, from size 28's up to size 4 salmon doubles, on a cheapo regent type vice (I've tried other but I keep coming back to these) - the ones with the leaver.  It is my normal procedure to pick up a hook, pop it into the vice at a right angle to the jaws with the eye facing down and then simply let the normal tension of the jaws closing flatten the barb.  Invariably it does this without any problem, I then give the hook a wee "twang" to make sure that its not too brittle, on the rare occasion that one breaks it simply comes apart with the shaft falling to the deck and the point being left in the jaws of the vice - as I've mentioned I've never had one "ping off". 

Anyway, I keep all my hooks in a hook box they are a mixture of Kamasan, Fulling Mill, Teimco, Drennan and Partridge (I also use Knapek but they are already barbless).  This evening I went through the box flattening barbs on a hook from every compartment - 44 in all.  I had two failures a Size 12 Kamasan B400 which snapped in the "twang" test and a Size 8 Partridge Cpt Hamilton which snapped when I crushed the barb.  I retested these hooks, the Kamasan didn't proved to have any further problems but the Cpt Hamiltions were very brittle and pretty much every one of the eight I had failed in some way or other.  Its not a hook I use very often so I suspect that I've received dodgy batch - I wonder how many are now in my box though!

Anyway no bits flew off, I was able to crush the barb in even the smallest hook and I feel quite safe doing this (I realise there must be some small risk involved).  I fail to see the difference when crushing with a set of pliers, surely the hook is just as likely (if not more likely) to ping apart then?

Just my observations and I'm curious as to how others flatten there barbs, I really thought that every one did it "my way".  I think I started doing this after it being recommended in a magazine but I've been doing it for so long I'm not sure where the original idea stemmed from.

Norm

[Alastair]

All barbless all the time.  Here in British Columbia, if you fish rivers and in a large number of lakes you have to fish barbless.  But the flies you buy in the stores are still mostly barbed, so you have to pinch them down.  I'm sure it accounts for a few lost fish but not many, but in areas where catch and release is mandatory it sure makes for quick and easy releases.  The less you handle the fish and keep it out of water, the higher the survival rate.

[haresear]

I'm curious as to how others flatten there barbs

I've seen a pal using your method Norm. I'm a forceps man myself.

Alex

[.D.]

Just my observations and I'm curious as to how others flatten there barbs, I really thought that every one did it "my way".  I think I started doing this after it being recommended in a magazine but I've been doing it for so long I'm not sure where the original idea stemmed from.

Norm

:|

I thought everyone did it the same way as me! I've never even tried using the vice itself, so couldn't possibly comment.

Fine smooth  jawed pliers  or  forceps (usually on the river when I've neglected to do it at the vice) : whichever's nearest.

.D.

[Allan Crawford]

I sometimes de-barb my flies, usually just when Rainbow bashing and fishing C&R, and I've lost loads of fish. At Dunlichity fishery near Inverness I've seen me hook and land my first 2 offers, crush the barb using flat pliers and then lose the next 5 fish at some stage in the fight. Put on a new fly with a barb for an experiment when he wasn't watching and hook and land the first offer. Until fishing this fishery I was happy fishing de-barbed flies and thought I only lost the occasional extra fish. Decided to buy some barbless hooks tie them up and see now I got on with them, but then he sold the house and fishery, which was then closed to the public so never got to try out the barbless hooks. (Heard a rumour that its back open).

Use a Ketchum release tool and find it relatively easy to unhook flies with barbs. On a big wild loch would hate to hook a brownie of a life time and lose it on a barbless hook.

As yet not keen to fish barbless for salmon, hard enough to hook a fish these days. Having been involved with catching fish for stripping on the Findhorn and West coast Carron and seen what bad handling the fish survive, removing a double or treble using forceps does them no long term harm, given that while spinning or fly fishing I've yet to deep hook a salmon and I don't worm fish cause I don't like the method.

As a teenager in N.Ireland 20 years ago I tied a lot of my river flies on arrow point barbless hooks for Brownies and don't remember many problems.

Have been using semi barbless hooks for pike bait fishing.

So interesting to read that most posts believe they don't cause them to lose any more fish, with a few posts saying they lose the odd extra fish.

Regards Allan

[MommaPete]

Hi,

I've been using barbless for years. The reason that I went to them was because of the local fisheries policy of releasing millions on Salmon Parr where i used to fish - The South Tyne - and at one bit of the season I used to catch loads, 20-30 in an evening. Now Salmon parr are voracious little beasts and attack anything that looks as if it might be food with vigour but when caught they give up and come to the net like lambs, however the hook would be quite deep and removing the barbed hook from a 4 inch parr would often cause a  lot of damage to the fish. So it became a common sense decision to move to barbless.

I tie my own flies these days and find it relatively easy to get barbless hooks - Partridge do a good range and they were the same price as barbed, it has to said that the range of patterns is a little limited but there is enough of a selection for most flies - including Klinks and Nymphs. It pays to be careful though when looking for manufacturers - some still charge a premium for their barbless. There's no real reason for that.

De-barbing, I've always done it with a pair of long nosed pliers bankside, I carry them for de-hooking, a hangover from my coarse fishing days when having to get the hook out of eels! Sometimes I've had a hook snap with a crack, that's rare, I've never had a bit go flying off, that isn't to say it won't happen though.

And as to catching or should I say losing fish? Well I don't think that I've lost any due to using barbless hooks, plenty to bad techniques or mistakes I think. Indeed I think I've seen more fish VERY firmly hooked with barbless than might have been the case with barbed - I've also seen the lightest hooked fish with barbless. This discussion about losing or otherwise due to barbless is like asking how long is a piece of string really, the question should be - are you catching fish and having fun with barbless? If you can hold your hand up and say yes, then why worry? :lol:

Good Fishing all.

MommaPete

[fredaevans]

Assuming the specific fishery doesn't require a barbless hook it then become a choice of what size hook am I using. A size 6 and larger always gets the barb 'crushed.' If not, they're a bitch to get out of your clothing ...... or skin! :worms :freeked