Are you crushed??

[LeCounts1099]

Every hook I throw into the Ocean has a crushed barb-- I truly feel the advantages of greater hook- penetration into a Cows' bony jaw greatly outweighs the distant fear that this will allow my dream- fish to come unbuttoned! You have to solidly hook up that Monster first, to have any chance to land it!-- a feat sometimes with plugs sporting largish- trebles, no matter how sharp! I can honestly say that I don't feel I've ever lost a big Bass because of this... bent- out fresh 4x-strong trebles way more often is my bane!

However, I've gone to what I'd describe as a "75% crush"... where the barb is still there, but crushed enough that it lays roughly parallel to the hook- shank. I feel this give me the advantages of having some/ enough barb... but still the advantage of easier penetration, & easier/ gentler unhooking of released fish (99.9% of mine, esp. cows). Works for me after 10+ years of field- testing!

[shadow]

only my spring time schoolie plugs other then that never.

[goosefish]

freshwater yes, saltwater no--I have no idea really why I do it that way?

[kippy]

only for schoolies or blitz of blues, otherwise no.

[In The Surf]

Sometimes April till the end of the first week of May on cocahoes and 4-6" slug-gos if I'm fishing during that timeframe but that's about it

[Mike P]

Nope--only on the 4" Storm shads, and only because shorts tend to inhale them. Barbless hooks will penetrate a fish's gill just as easily as a barbed one, in any event. You never hurt a fish with trebles when the belly hook is lodged in the jaw. It's always the back hook that gets under their gill plate and does the damage, and barb or no barb, the damage is done. Barbless hooks don't prevent injury to bass--they only make it less likely that you'll injure yourself unhooking a thrashing fish.

What do you do when a big fish plays that dirty rotten trick of reversing direction and swimming right at you, and you're fishing barbless? Can you really reel fast enough to prevent any slack at all from getting into the line? A tiny bit of slack is all it'll take for that barbless hook to fall out

And, there is a big difference between a "true" barbless hook, and a standard hook with the barb filed or crushed down. True barbless hooks have a bend in them that helps the hook stay stuck. I've yet to see a bluefish that couldn't throw a hook with a crushed barb by jumping and shaking its head.

[LeCounts1099]

Points well- taken as usual, Mike... but here are my answers:

1) Hook- penetration is no where near equal comparing full- barbed and barb- crushed trebles on plugs... The question here is: maybe you might lose one (potentially) "big" fish a year to slack forming w/ barbless plug- hooks... but how many hard- strikes that didn't hook-up did you have last year w/ full barbs? How many of those would have been hook- ups going no- barbs? If the answer is 2+, then you've come out ahead crushing your barbs.

2) Can I reel fast enough for the "dirty trick?" Yes, with my VS250... So far yes with my VS 300 w/ slower retrieve ratio. And who says slack at any point while barbless guarantees an unbuttoned fish?-- I think Mike you're envisioning that rare case when your Cow is stuck with one hook from a treble only, loosely... Face it most times Momma's got a whole head treble in her maw, and it ain't coming out so easily if so slack or no!

3) Yes, the back hook on a plug's the damage- one to the released Bass's health: that's why for me, NO Bass plug has a rear treble: rear bucktail Siwash single... or when possible, a hookless swinging bucktail on the rear! Doesn't eliminate 100% the gill damage issue... but way above the rear- treble approach.

Finally, 4) re.: Bluefish throwing barbless/ crushed- barb hooks: Nov. 28 + 29th last, S.S. L.I. surf: throwing mostly bass- plugs looking to cul a cow, I instead landed approx. 75 Blues in two days with my crushed- barb plugs & tins... I honestly don't recall dropping one once hooked! With sand beach & no structure, it was still easy to beat 14+ lb. blues on 20 lb. mono. Lots of jumping I assure-- too bad! I hope for long- distance releases, when unfortunate enough to hook- up a Blue!

[zimmy]

I do on all trebles and on some singles. I have to disagree with what Mike P said about the damage is already done when the hook goes in. Barbs cause a bigger hole going in, cause much more damage when they are removed and may cause the fish to be out of the water for a longer period of time because they are harder to remove.

One of the rare times I forgot to crush the barbs I ended up with a 12 lber attached to my thumb by a Yozuri Darter. The hook went in all the way to the bend. Wouldn't have required surgery if it was crushed and I would have had a lot less time with a fish flopping around mangling my thumb .