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We’re halfway through Season 13, and tonight we have a discussion that’s been on our backburner for quite a while — barbed hooks or barbless, and does it really matter?
Should we always fish barbless? Maybe not. The answer isn’t that simple. So the Troutbitten guys are here for a conversation and a few thoughts about barbs on hooks.
Each one of us has fished for long enough that we’ve used both barbed and barbless flies. We’ve also used barbs on lures and bait hooks, because we all grew up fishing in different ways. Some anglers who jump right into the fly fishing game — especially for trout — are exposed to a another sentiment. So their reference points are different. And like anything else, what might seem almost outlandish to one person can seem like no big deal to another.
So . . . barbed hooks or barbless? And does it really matter?
Resources
READ: Troutbitten | Are We Taking the Safety of Trout Too Far?
READ: Troutbitten | Category | Catch and Release Safely
READ: Troutbitten | Fight Fish Fast
READ: Troutbitten | Nymph Hook Inversion and the Myth of the Jig Hook
PODCAST: Troutbitten | How To Handle a Trout – S1, Ep2
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Season Thirteen of the Troutbitten Podcast continues next week with episode six. So look for that in your Troutbitten podcast feed.
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Enjoy the day.
Domenick Swentosky
T R O U T B I T T E N
domenick@troutbitten.com
What about a bump of thread with UV resin mid bend,to prevent tippet from sliding off hook?
I can tell you that using barbless, once I get a fish to the net , nine times out of ten, he’ll rub the hook right out of it’s mouth, never need to touch the fish, let him swim right out of the net.
Wow. 90 percent of the time? Like we said in the podcast, I fish barbless almost always, but the hook doesn’t just slide out like you describe very often. Maybe one in ten, for me.
Cheers.
Dom
Hey,
Just listened to podcast and it reminded me of the moment when I realized that squashing my barbs really was the best decision.
Last winter I was practicing loading a sinking line on my 8wt, trying to maximize distance. I was water loading, and doing a double haul, making sure I could get distance without false casting. As I was going to my forward cast, something that felt like a truck hit my hand and I looked down to see my game changer sticking through the palm of my hand. It was barbless, so I pushed it right out, and the only thing that I had damaged was my ego.
Great pod guys!
Great discussion as usual. Do you ever sacrifice the fly on a deep hooked or gill hooked size 20, barbed or barbless, to avoid injury?
Re: stripers and barbless flies: The last couple of years I’ve only fished barbless for striped bass. We hit many really good days on the Maine flats in 2023 (fish came in numbers most days to search out crabs). I caught 30 bass between 32″-42″(9′ 10WT, Int line, 17-20LB tippet), and lost about 3-4 others that were in that range (it’s easy to know). I’ll take that percentage every time to avoid having to remove a 1/0 to 6/0 barbed hook from my flesh. But, you have to be absolutely relentless about maintaining tension, and try to draw the fish out of bouts of head shaking. I also believe it makes a big difference when you tie on hooks that are rounded up at the point, as it seems to with nymphs.