Barbless hooks

[Oliver10]

I finally got out for a few hours Sunday night. I fished general regulations water on the Upper South Branch somewhere above KLG. It was beautiful afternoon river was high and but fishable. I did not see another fisherman at all. I did see the non stocked signs. Anyway since I was fishing for wild trout I pinched the barbs on my hooks. I ended up with 7 browns all wild. The largest is pictured and fought well. I also caught two brookies both wild and one was about 7inches. No pictures. Also many creek chubs.

I lost a lot more including two that felt bigger than the largest I caught. I set the hook and the current was fast and once I turned the fish and they swam towards me down stream the would come right off. They would move faster than I could keep the line tight. I was wondering if anybody has an barbless hook fishing tips.

Now for the pictures. One of the pictures is of a streamside landmark that some of you should recognize. Please don't blurt out GPS points.

 

[Rusty Spinner]

Personally, I don't fish any differently with barbed versus barbless hooks. Too many fly anglers want to fight fish from the reel and not by stripping them in. I have no idea if that's your case, but as a guide, I see it all the time. I take the mentality that I will strip in every fish I catch unless that fish gets me on my reel more or less on its own. You can normally out-strip a fish but can seldom out-reel one that is coming at you. Just my two cents.

I catch mostly wild brookies at photo # 3.

 

[beeber]

Ollie, keep tension on the line as best as you can. Don't worry about getting the line on the reel, strip it in. You do get a better hook set with barbless. I still use barbs when my confidence needs a boost. I will half-pinch down the barb to minimize damage.

 

[Oliver10]

Personally, I don't fish any differently with barbed versus barbless hooks. Too many fly anglers want to fight fish from the reel and not by stripping them in. I have no idea if that's your case, but as a guide, I see it all the time. I take the mentality that I will strip in every fish I catch unless that fish gets me on my reel more or less on its own. You can normally out-strip a fish but can seldom out-reel one that is coming at you. Just my two cents.

I catch mostly wild brookies at photo # 3.

I strip in all my fish and end up with my rod vertical and raised up as high as I can get. The water was high and fast and I could not keep the tension. I got the brookies (so colorful) down from the engine block about a hundred yards. (I knew you would know where I was). The pool where the unnamed trib flows in is very deep and I saw a huge fish shadow move through there. Possible it was a trout but also possible a sucker or carp. There is so much great public water that hardly gets fished

 

[BRK TRT]

The beauty of barbless is that sometimes the fish win.
Like those comments already made the best way is tension, and do strip the line.
On any given outing I'll loose more than I bring to hand, again it's all part of it.
Wonderful trout.......

Brk Trt

 

[BioGuy]

I've found that barbless hooks work as well as or better than barbed (especially regarding the comment about better hooksets). Two things: true barbless seem "stickier" to me...I always look for a slightly upturned hook point with an extended taper if possible. Most barbed hooks have a short, rather quick taper to a blunt point (though not all). The second thing, and more important....what size rod/line were you using? A fast action or heavier weight rod is more likely to bounce small fish as they don't weigh enough to keep tension in the rod. This is especially true if you are hand lining the fish, since you add extra bounce.

 

[Oliver10]

I've found that barbless hooks work as well as or better than barbed (especially regarding the comment about better hooksets). Two things: true barbless seem "stickier" to me...I always look for a slightly upturned hook point with an extended taper if possible. Most barbed hooks have a short, rather quick taper to a blunt point (though not all). The second thing, and more important....what size rod/line were you using? A fast action or heavier weight rod is more likely to bounce small fish as they don't weigh enough to keep tension in the rod. This is especially true if you are hand lining the fish, since you add extra bounce.

I pinched the barbs myself so not true barbless. The rod was an Orvis TLS Power Matrix 8.5 foot 4wt. Mid Flex 8.0.

I don't mind losing fish when fishing barbless, I lost way more than I brought to the net. I was a little bummed about the few bigger fish that spit the hook. Not enough so to switch to barbed though.

 

[BioGuy]

I pinched the barbs myself so not true barbless. The rod was an Orvis TLS Power Matrix 8.5 foot 4wt. Mid Flex 8.0.

I don't mind losing fish when fishing barbless, I lost way more than I brought to the net. I was a little bummed about the few bigger fish that spit the hook. Not enough so to switch to barbed though.

It's always the best one that gets away

Something else that occurred to me...were they on top when you lost them? I've found that I lose most fish in the top and bottom 10% of the water column. The bottom is likely due to hanging up on rocks, algae, etc., the top happens most often when they are rolling or (especially when fighting a small downstream fish) they are skipping along the surface....each little hop produces slack in the line. Holding the rod upstream and angled close to the surface of the water helps keep the fish in the middle of the water column (but does add strain to your tippet, so I usually avoid this for larger fish). And sometimes the little guy wins no matter what I try haha.

Sounds like a great trip anyway.

 

[Drossi]

I don't mind losing fish when fishing barbless, I lost way more than I brought to the net. I was a little bummed about the few bigger fish that spit the hook. Not enough so to switch to barbed though.

Could be that your hook points are dulled and you're only getting a light hookset. I usually run each hook through the sharpener 2 to 3 times when I tie on the fly, I'll repeat this every hour or so if I'm fishing deep especially if I'm hanging up periodically on rocks or debris. A dull hook doesn't set as well. That said I don't really notice any big advantage to having the barb, actually I lost more fish when fishing barb hooks so I go 100% barbless all the time.

 

[FIN-ITE 34]

I find that I lose more fish on bigger hook sizes. Seems like the smaller sizes actually wedge themselves in and are almost as much a PITA to remove as barbed hooks.

 

[NJpatbee]

I have been fishing barbless flies for over 40 years - never had a problem losing fish. Keep the line tight and you will land it, if you are feeling lazy just let up on the line and have an LDR. There is no doubt on my mind that I do minimal if any damage to a quickly played trout that I never had to touch.

 

[GARYB]

I always wondered how many hooked and lost fish came off just from being barely hooked at the edge of their mouths, you never really know. Some days I get them all in and other times I lose a lot.

 

[Barleywine]

Two things: true barbless seem "stickier" to me...I always look for a slightly upturned hook point with an extended taper if possible.

I've been using TMC 103BL hooks over the past 2 years for most of my dry flies. They fit that description from BioGuy, and I land many more fish on those than flies on which I've just pinched down the barb.

 

[CTobias]

I use a spear. They never fall off.

 

[Oliver10]

I use a spear. They never fall off.

You see there was a new NJ archery carp record recently

 

[Bruce Edward Litton]

Does anyone know if Efinger's sells barbless hook flies? I'm about to make a purchase.

 

[tomfly]

Does anyone know if Efinger's sells barbless hook flies? I'm about to make a purchase.

I haven't found any there as of yet

 

[CTobias]

You see there was a new NJ archery carp record recently

How big was the carp?

 

[Rusty Spinner]

How big was the carp?

45 lbs., 6 oz. taken out of Greenwood Lake about a week ago.

 

[Rusty Spinner]

Team Bloody Decks. These guys do a lot for wounded warriors by taking them bowfishing to help them heal after combat. They post regularly on NJ Hunter.

 

[Oliver10]

View attachment 10706

Team Bloody Decks. These guys do a lot for wounded warriors by taking them bowfishing to help them heal after combat. They post regularly on NJ Hunter.

I hate wasting fish, but any dead carp is a good carp to me.

 

[PinelandsGillie]

I have seen about 20 30 pound carp lined up like soldiers on Mt Airy ave in wissihickon gorge in Philly , along with giant goldfish. I had one take a sunken cricket a few years ago but I only had 5x and he snapped right off

 

[jimmy229oz]

If you really want to go the barbless route and dont mind buying some new hooks, I like the Dohiku barbless. The points angle into the eye of the hook ever so slightly, and therefore catch and hold in the jaw better. Theyre also razor sharp. Much better then the wide gape hook with the barbs crushed for holding a fish. Other companies make barbless, but I happen to like the Dohikus. You can get them through Dette in Roscoe and their shipping is cheap.
I asked Jim at Shannons about it and he said they over the next few months will be upping their barbless offerings as well. Try a pack and see what you think.