Barbless?

[exerod]

Just wondering with the high level of C&R practiced by the forum in general how many of us fish with barbless hooks. I don't used barbed at all (fly or spinner) before June 16th in England. For the rest of the season and in Scotland I use barbed hooks maybe 20% of the time.
This year my flyingC's will all have double hooks as well, I just snap off the third leg of the treble and squash the other two points together a bit. A good friend told me this would result in me missing a lot of fish and sure enough the first time I tried it I missed three! However I'm sure it was just one of those days and I've had no trouble since.

Andy

[betanut]

Been on barbless for 2 years - well, crimped down barbs - and am thinking it's time to find some barbless hooks for my next lot of salmon hooks!

[wilbert]

I only fish with barbless before the 16th June and when fishing on a trout fishery, I very rarely use trebles and believe that a barbed double does no more damage than a barbless double and they are easy to remove with a good pair of forceps or pliers. My friend who does a lot of carp fishing says that the barbless hooks do more damage to carp as they can turn from side to side and enlarge the entry point. 95% of carp fisheries insist on barbless and have done for over 10 years but some are starting to allow micro barbs as a compromise.

[Sloggi]

I fish with the barb flattened on all flies and spinning lures - no trebles either.

[robmason]

Last autumn when I was catching sea trout by the truck load I did contemplate giving up ( they where out of season, and their in-season cousins non-existant :, until I got hold of some really heavy duty pliers to flatten the barbs right down, off in some cases. Unhooking was then a doddle. I'm not sure I would try Andy's trick with the treble on a Mepps though.

For fly fishing I have only used doubles the last few years and as with others tend to flatten early on in the season.