Barbed or barbless ?

[Chris Bettis]

Barbless now but I do like the microbarbs which seem to me to bridge the difference between barbed and barbless, in fact the more I use them the more I like them.

[Nobby]

I haven't used a barbed hook for maybe ten years now. ( except fluff chucking for stocked trout) and I've had just one damaged fish...a big carp...when the hook dragged an inch..it had also straightened out a lot, perhaps contributing to the slippage?. The fish was 12 foot into the reeds and I was using 30 braid straight through. Any other set up would have resulted in a lost fish( with a hook in its mouth) Everybody else lost any hooked fish there.....and their hook.


My response was not to fish that spot again...the reeds were just too numerous, the fish just too cautious and I'd rather not hurt fish.

Every other large carp I've caught, up to 30lbs, all close in off the top, has had no damage. I don't see that a barbless hook automatically injures a fish, .... I think it's how you play them. And perhaps down to the rig as well; my preferred method these days is heavy gauge braid straight through, a hook with an in-turned eye using the knotless knot and a 1.75lb. barbel rod with a through action. Once I arrived at that set-up I never lost another fish, nor injured any apart from the extreme example above.

I think a lot of large carp mouth damage might be, in part, down to the rods used, not the hooks.

[Paul D]

I think a lot of large carp mouth damage might be, in part, down to the rods used, not the hooks.

I agree Nobby,barbless for me too.

[Olly]

Some of the worse damage I have ever seen to carp's mouths was on a lily pad covered lake where anglers, many exceedingly famous in their time, dragged hooked carp out/through the lilies. Rather like Nobby's experience above.

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I will add that I saw the fish that were stocked in the late 60's, after the freeze killed everything in the water, about 15 years ago when they were moved.

[Julian]

Microbarbed for me, except when only expecting to catch small fish under half a pound, then I would use barbless, also on any water where barbless is a rule.
I have caught many carp off the top in pools that are very snaggy, weedy, reedbeds, lilybeds, etc and have yet to see any lip damage resulting from microbarbed hooks I use.

[Nobby]

I accept that we can only go by our experiences, but I don't quite follow how a micro-barbed hook can offer a firmer hookhold in extreme circumstances. If the amount of pressure being exerted at the hookpoint is enough to make it tear flesh, the small amount of additional resistance to movement given my a micro barb, or even a full barb for that matter, is surely comparatively insignificant.

All a barb does after all, is to offer additional resistance to a hook falling out. That is to say it prevents the hook from moving in the opposite direction to which the angler is pulling it. Once I had switched to barbless hooks I remembered to keep some tension on the line at all times and haven't noticed that I lost any more fish than before I changed hook style.


I'd be interested to hear a convincingly scientific explanation for barbed and semi-barbed hooks causing less mouth damage than barbless hooks.

As far as I am aware it is only carp fisheries, those stocking larger fish particularly, that insist on barbed hooks, whereas I think mixed fisheries are 'barbless' to a man.

[Olly]

I think I agree with the last sentence Nobby.

I too use barbless/micro-barbed when not trying to catch something big or bigger!

[Lovatts]

This has been a good topic for me, because it tells me that I'm not alone in refusing simply to believe in damage done by barbless hooks.
I'm happy to find that others share my doubts, and share my feeling that it's more to do with stiffer rods, paired up with a heavy hand at the other end.
Most of all, the majority of us seems to believe that barbless is kinder to the fish, and more likely to release the fish if it becomes tethered for whatever reason.
Angling has sometimes had a bad press, live baiting and lead for example, so anything we can do to demonstrate care, must be in the interest of the sport.
Thank you all.

[Mushy]

I agree with you Nobby stiff rods damage more carp when hauled in rather than played properly, than whatever hook type is on the end: barbless for me mainly because if the line goes I think the fish has some chance of losing the hook and line etc rather than getting tangled up in a snag or weed and being tethered.

[Nobby]

There's no doubt a lot of carp anglers care about the fish too......just think how many carry expensive wound dressing kits of dubious worth, but it's many of these fellers who believe that barbless hooks cause more injury then barbed.

It'd be nice to have a definitive answer.

Since I only fish for carp close-in and invariably on the surface or near it, I can get away with my 1.75 barbel rod...if I were having to cast a rig a greater distance I might find things changed with a rod capable of doing that job......


The way I fish for carp is too limited to give me all the answers, but so far barbless has been best.


The reason I changed to barbless was that I fished badly once and left a barbed hook in a carp's mouth. I actually caught the same fish again after 5 months of trying and the barbed hook was gone! It's been a great comfort to me when I've left a barbless hook in a fish's mouth ever since.

I expect most of you have read the story before:

http://www.fishingmagic.com/fm-features ... drain.html