Many years ago a chemical company admitted they had been dumping mercury into a feeder of the South Fork of the Shenandoah River. The Virginia Commission of Game and Inland Fisheries enacted a regulation on that river stating that it was illegal to take fish out of the river “for human consumption”. Naturally the word got out that the river was closed for fishing…which was not correct.
Those of us who kept fishing and returning the bass to the stream had outstanding fishing for the years of the “Ban”. This prompted me to experiment with barbed and barbless hooks. In a reasonably well controlled experiment lasting several years I became convinced that I landed 30% more bass on barbless hooks.
I believe the justification for this great number of bass landed on barbless hooks rest in how barbless hooks penetrate his jaw to the bend of the hook where it holds him firmly. Frequently, I believe, when we set the hook on the strike with barbed hooks the hook fails to penetrate beyond the barb. Thus the bass we thought was securely hooked was just “hanging on the point of the hook” where he easily escapes.
Today I use barbless flies for all of my fishing on trout, bass and in saltwater.
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