Barbless Trebles

[mbp]

Most of us here are deffo catch and release - at least when it comes to lure fishing for bream.
Just wondering how many other people just fish barbless trebles???

[Goody1971]

Yep, I crush the barbs on all my trebles as soon as I take the lure out of the packet

[ART]

Hey Paul
Why don't you show them why you now use barbless trebles
Jim

[Sloth]

I used barbless until I dropped fish back to back. Now I use barbed and just take more time unhooking them. I'll try it again at some point but probably when I've got a few more under my belt.

[redfinfisho]

most of the bream tebs have tiny barbs anyway so doesn't really make much diference but when fishing for golden perch etc I usually crush the barbs and for stream trout they can be super hard to unhook at times

[spork]

Originally Posted by Goody1971

Yep, I crush the barbs on all my trebles as soon as I take the lure out of the packet

This.
Not only easier on the fish, but also on the fingers, car upholstery, my shirt, kayak seat, mesh side pockets...

[sucker]

im one for barbless trebles not much fun pushing them through and cutting them off or having to rip em out cause you cant push em through I might lose a couple of fish in a session but a lot less painful for fish and me.

[joelozzy]

Bit of a silly question, but is the best way to crush the barbs just a plain old set of needle nose pliers and giving the point a good old squeeze?

Want to not reduce the strength of the steel as much as possible.

[mbp]

Yeh...thats the way I go. First thing I do before a lure ever hits the water is crush them down. Don't seem to drop many fish and there are some good reasons why:
First and foremost - much easier on the fish
Second - fishing with my faithful (but sometimes over enthusiastic) hounds gets more complicated without barbless hooks.
And finally, as me old mate Jim (ART) can tell ya...I've been known to be a tad accident prone

BTW Jim...perhaps the finger should be the other way around

[Yak_Hak]

OUCH!

I had a similar incident, got pinned by 2 out of the 3 trebles! Luckily for me I had previously crushed the barbs... still had to give it a solid yank to pull them out though.

As long as you keep constant pressure on the fish you won't lose any more than you would with barbs.

It also a lot friendlier on the fish, especially when they've practically inhaled the lure.

[oldbarboy]

Use barbless most of the time. Have had 2 occasions of catching oneself. Barbless are far less painless to remove from me and the fish and you dont have to sit in a hospital waiting room for 7 hours and then be told you will have to go to theater.

Don't think I've lost too many fish when using barbless. If so, no biggy , there only bream that I throw back anyway, not sheep stations.

[mbp]

Originally Posted by oldbarboy

Use barbless most of the time. Have had 2 occasions of catching oneself. Barbless are far less painless to remove from me and the fish and you dont have to sit in a hospital waiting room for 7 hours and then be told you will have to go to theater.

Don't think I've lost too many fish when using barbless. If so, no biggy , there only bream that I throw back anyway, not sheep stations.

Yeh...agree with all you said. As a sport the Bream scene pretty much has it's own identity these days and I'm surprised that we don't look at this as some kind of 'accepted practice'.
As you said, if you know what your doing the loss in fish catch with barbless is negligible...but I'm sure the difference in survival rate has got to be significant i.e. mangled mouth parts or other bits = at best a significant disadvantage when competing to survive - at worst, and with infection etc, it might be a slow death sentence.
Not trying to be controversial - just food for thought

[da_houghsta]

I'm sure there was a petition going around at some stage to make the Swan river here barbless only as a conservation practice. I very much doubt it will ever go ahead no matter how much sense it actually makes. I'd like to see some more barbless trebles on stock lures someday like with some JDM lures often have. I'd love to say I always go barbless but the reality is I don't get around to doing it on pretty much any of my lures... I've been lucky in the hooking oneself department having only had a ST11 ultra light in my finger (close to barbless as you can get! ) and always try to remove trebles from fish as gently as I can. A good set of needle nose pliers helps no end!

[mbp]

Yeh - as the sport get bigger I'd like to think it's something that gets adopted one day.
Ha ha...as for pinning myself - well unfortunatly it's something I've done more times than I would like. Always in the yak while holding the fish one handed trying to get a pic.Occasionally pin one of the dogs in the lip as well when they think they are better at releasing than me.
(One from my pre barb crushing days)