by Brian Waldman
This little "experiment" started about 3 weeks ago when I made a river trip with my jetboat friend "Asshat". This was one of those deals where you just meet up on a more or less spur of the moment deal and use the other guy's equipment. Traveling light can be a good thing. In this case, we're talking an old tacklebox from his "bass tourney days" (now a converted fly fisher) almost 15 years ago with the most basic selection of baits, a couple of everything that will cover most all scenarios encountered if you're not particular about color and brand.
Asshat happens to have debarbed every hook in his tackle box, trebles and single hooks alike, so you pretty much have the scenario. It makes for one of those "learning" opportunities that most people would never actually get around to trying themselves. Sort of like not setting the hook on plastics to see how long a fish will truly hold a bait. You never really know for certain until you try the experiment. So we made an afternoon of it on the river and catch a decent bite, landing about 3 dozen bass, mostly smallmouth. I don't keep perfect track of the details because the bite is so good, but I don't really recall losing any bass that I could attribute to the barbless hooks, even on crankbaits.
But one trip and a dozen and a half (my share) bass doesn't really give you a good feel for the big picture. So for the last 3 weeks I have been smashing down barbs on every bait I've thrown and on every trip I've taken, even short shore excursions. Now, some 150+ bass later I have a better feel for an outcome, though still way short of any big numbers and not tracked closely enough to call specifics. Enough of a sampling though to make some anecdotal observations.
Bottom line is that I have been very impressed overall by the outcome. Two things have become apparent. One, I haven't lost nearly as many fish as I first thought. The number has been small enough that I couldn't truly argue that what I have lost isn't just a function of normal percentages. You're not going to land every fish you hook, and some days are worse than others. I've yet to come off the water and question the decision to smash down the barbs on the baits based on hooking outcome.
The other biggie has been a realization of just how fast and easy unhooking of every bass is. Doesn't matter whether we're talking jigs sucked deep or cranks with both sets of trebles impaled in a bass' mouth. Fast and effortless. I went back to barbed hooks on todays trip and the difference was incredibly apparent with the very first fish of the day. It really does take more time and effort, and frequently a pair of long-nosed pliers, to unhook a set of barbs from a fishes mouth. You have to fish barbless for long enough and catch enough bass to become accustomed to the "feel" for time and effort before you can switch back and make the call. You can get a sense from one trip or a few bass, but a couple weeks and several trips is best.
Interestingly enough, biologically (mortality) there is no scientific basis for going barbless. The (supposed) benefits are largely anecdotal as I've done quite a bit of literature searching for claim support and have largely come up empty. Benefits you'll read about and to which I would tentatively agree with include faster and easier unhooking of all bass, less tissue damage to the fish, and potentially better hooking ability. The other benefit which I haven't experienced yet (fortunately) is removing a hook embedded past the barb from myself. Barbless has to be hugely easier and safer and I have found some medical reports that have backed that up.
The better hooking ability stems from the theoretically diminished force required to penetrate through bass flesh and bone when a barb is absent. If you've looked at some of the jig stats I compiled over the winter, it is not unusual for a barb to double the width of the actual hook/metal diameter. Common sense would suggest that a thinner hook (more like a hypodermic needle) would require less force to penetrate than a larger barbed offering. The arguable side benefit then becomes one of potentially less lost fish since the hook penetrated much further and likely the bass ended up all the way down into the bend of the hook as opposed to getting stuck up near the barb. It is much easier to straighten a hook when pressure is applied and focused to the hook point compared to the bend.
You can do a search for barbless hook articles and opinions easily enough on the web. I'll include one good example of what you might find if you do look around: "Barbs: A Limiting Factor in Hook Penetration". The next time you head out for a practice day or just a fun fishing day of catch and release when there isn't any money on the line, consider trying this experiment for yourself, you might be pleasantly surprised.