As a rule i will always try to fish lures with crushed barbs until mid may and sometimes into june...sometimes i will forget to crush them, but about 95% of the time i am fishign barbless.

I just dont understand how people can justify hurting fish more than they have to if they are just going to release it.. I caught some schoolies the other night and let them flounder around at my feet in the water and they released themselves in about 4 seconds.. I didnt even have to touch them, but if my barbs were intact, i would have had to use plyers and preform a mini operation on them to get them back in one piece..

I just dont understand how people can justify hurting fish more than they have to if they are just going to release it.
How do you justify hurting fish at all then? You're still putting stress on the fish...

All for a few seconds of cheap thrill, like a quick sniff up the nose :hs: :)

-spence

Agreed. I crush the barbs until mid to late May. Even after then if there are a lot of fish and I don't intend on keeping any I will crush the barbs. Only time I don't is fishing eels.

Usually crushed, always if it is schoolies. On trebles I generally crush em. If I got one uncrushed and its in the fish and won't come out easy, I will crush it before unhooking. Bucktails and other jigs and a shot at a bigun and I am likely to leave it barbed as long as possible. I agree, why if its unnescessary :poke:

Crushed for schoolies and bluefish.

I don't quite understand the whole barbless thing, with the exception of maybe one or two schoolies that get hooked a little further down in the mouth, the barbed hook seems to come out fairly easy.
I really hate losing a fish, big or small and I am afraid crushing barbs will increase the chance of that. Call me cruel....

I crush the barbs when fishing for schoolies and I don't use trebles when fishing for schoolies. After that.... let 'em bleed :fishslap:... no, when there's a chance for big fish the barbs stay.

I catch a ton of schoolies all season long (unfortunately) and I never crush the barbs. Besides a couple that might get hooked deep or twisted in the cartilige in the side of the mouth, they all go back quickly and hopefully it doesn't cause them any more stress than the fight. I am afraid as was said before that I will lose a decent sized fish if I don't have barbs. Maybe I will try it for early season and see how it goes. Can't hurt unless of course I lose "the big one".

Always crush the barbs untill the big fish show. 100% easier to release.

I crush all the barbs on my trebles, single hooks I leave the barb.

I vote for crushing barbs. It saves schoolies, time, and my hands :D

I crush them on everything, flies, plugs and jigs. A good angler will loose very few fish because of this and aside from it being easier to release fish it's also easier to release yourself when in the middle of the night you get gaffed by a stray barb. You will loose a few of course but not that many. Crushed barbs and a hand gaff for lipping in the dark in the surf. My hands are precious to me. It is espoecially handy when big bluefish are around. I ususally just let them throw the hook rather than f&*k with them then I move.

Though I'm a Large- seeker always-- Irelease most Bass (as I hope/ believe 95% of us here do), & fish crushed barbs always! (Excepting eels as mentioned-- a barb needed to keep the eel on the hook of course!)

For 10+ years now I'm using & field- testing "mostly crimped" barbs successfully! Of the last 10 Cows I lost-- none were to hooks/ plugs being thrown! (As I'm a stubborn 20 lb. mono guy, too many broken lines in craggy areas!) :err:

On the 4x & 6x VMC trebles that I use on most of my plugs, the barbs are of modest size to begin with, so I crimp the barb down only slightly-- maybe 40% from original. On Mustads & other Trebles featuring large/ excessive barbs-- I crush these down maybe 75% or more. Singles used for plastics or chunking, etc.-- same, as the hook dictates.

I believe that beyond being release- friendly-- the lesser barb gets me MORE Large! To me-- 85% of the game there is penetration!... only 15% holding on during the fight! I'm much more worried about a hook opening/ bending (thus the 4x VMC's), OR the head plug swivel popping! (hear that Gibbs? :wave: ).. than I am my nearly- barbless hook falling out during the battle!

I don't use hooks...........:usd:

crushed when fishing for schoolies.

All my barbs get crushed when schoolie fishing. I usually don't use trebles when targeting schoolies either but its tought because they do love those small mambo minnows. Once the larger fish show I generally crush the barbs on the rear trebles on plugs only (limits the damage that hook does if it gets a fish on the side of the head and or in my hand).

I crush em. It's just easier.

I crush the barbs on all trebles, single hooks I leave the barb

I always crush the barbs when schoolie fishing and don't use trebles. When Ms. Big shows up it's open season!

...Very rarely do I crush barbs. If I'm targeting schoolies, I rarely use trebbles, single hooks only. When targeting an area with potential large...it's show time, and anything goes. However....if I'm fighting a fish for more than 4 minutes I cut the line. I'd hate to fatigue him so much that he doesn't recover. Sometimes I perform CPR on the fish also...on bigger fish it's much harder as their mouths are so much wider than my own. I almost lost my head once, he had a double jointed jaw...he had me looking like I'd been wearing a mask and snorkel for a week....ring around the face.

Crushed for Schoolies and Blues but mostly uncrushed for bigger fish - been thinking though....

This time of year. Definitely, crushed.

I crush trebles for schoolies

I crush the barbs on all tail hooks. I learned the hard way after a trip to the medical center on the block to get a hook removed from my finger. I don't use trebles on lures that I fish for schoolies. Just single hooks with the barbs crushed.

Once the larger fish show I generally crush the barbs on the rear trebles on plugs only (limits the damage that hook does if it gets a fish on the side of the head and or in my hand).

:kewl: I like that idea... gonna give it a shot

I don't!:wiggle:

Yes, ever have a schoolie nip the tail of a plug and get all 3 barbs in their little mouth? :bc:

-spence

I crush them on all hooks smaller than 1/O because I use the plugs that have hooks that small for schoolies.

I don't!:wiggle:


don't what?

I don't!:wiggle:
Yes you do..:wavey:

You know!;)

Crush all barbs all the time easy on the fish and on me or my fishing partner,saved a trip to the hospital a couple of time.

I generally use treble hooks and generally crush the barbs. I don't have hooks for different fish. So I generally crush them all. I know it makes it a lot easier to get them pesky Bloooooooofish off. Thats usually all I catch anyway.

glad to hear so many folks are crushing them down.. :kewl:

i will sleep better tonight :D

glad to hear so many folks are crushing them down.. :kewl:

i will sleep better tonight :D

I never crush the barbs.Which is sick as much as I fish IN the water.I have had hooks in my hand also.Its not fun.ur skin is amazing its like shoe leather.thanks for the reminder.I don't really bother with skoolies.So they are safe.

I crush the barbs down on all of the hooks on my plugs and jigs. I also sharpen my hooks frequently so that they are always sharp.

No barbs except on jigs. Hook more fish, loose more, catch more, less risk to myself.

95% crushed , only the real big guns have barbs

I only crush em when I'm into alot of schoolies or bloofish. I don't trust those evil bastids.

I don't go schoolie fishing in the spring, I usually wait until Mid may and liveline Herring (not this year tho) I never crush barbs

Always crush the barbs....Easy release..

No barbs except on jigs. Hook more fish, loose more, catch more, less risk to myself.
ex-zac-ly...me too....nothin like remembering pullin a 3/0 out of your hand on monomoy one night ,to help squesze the barbs ...:eek: :eek:

I love Barb,Why would I smash her.??

Take this advice, you won't be disappointed. Definitely crush down those barbs, but do it this way: using pliers, grasp the point end of the barb and crush it to the hook shank. Leave a bump in the barb at the proximal end (towards the shank). This will act as a partial barb, and usually keep the hook embedded. You are lessening the resistance of the barb to penetration into the fish's jaw, and the pinched hook will be easier to drive deeper into that jaw. The bump from the pinched barb will keep the hook there pretty sufficiently, and I don't feel that I've lost more fish by doing this.
Also, I like the fact that doing this makes it easier to release...me. Landing large bass, I've driven hooks into inconvenient places such as my thigh, and through the nail on my middle finger. Pinched barbs made it easier to avert an abrupt end to my fishing trip in each case. I have a fishing buddy who was landing a bluefish and had a hook (barb unaltered) driven into his hand. He now has no feeling in that part of his hand, and that happened a few years ago.
Pinching barbs shouldn't have a large effect on numbers of fish landed (if you do as instructed above, and keep pressure on the fish while fighting it), but even if you do lose a couple, it may save your body parts.

Always crush. Goes in easier, comes out easier. I leave a bump like the above example (actually it's almost impossible not to..).