Up ‘till this year I haven’t given crushing the barb much thought. Never did crush. Now, after reading these posts, I’m going to start fishing barbless. At least when plugging for schoolies this spring in the river.
i chrush the barbs on all my plugs,both trebles and siwash. i don't think i lose any fish because of it. i have seen PTmike land enough big fish for me to believe that it doesn't effect his landing rate. i know several other anglers who have landed more big fish than most and i mean 50 to 60 lbfish and they crush the barbs,thats enough for me to trust crushed barbs
not only do i crush all my barbs i cut off at least one of the hooks on each treble ,i just hate to mangle the fish when they take the hook in both upper and lower jaws
I always crush the barbs since a barbed hook led to a lot of agro when it went into my hand once out at Montauk. I think the suggestion to switch to a single hook on the back of plugs makes a lot of sense and will try that this year.
Hybrid Mode
