Barbless hook survey

[Ron Vroom]

This is an informal survey to find out how many of you would be supportive of a regulation that only barbless hooks could be used on lakes with a slot limit or during catch and release tournaments. The reg. would be for both winter and summer fishing. I am not associated in any way with MNDNR. I believe such a regulation would reduce the mortality of fish that have to be returned to the water, and simply want to find out if others think this is a good idea? For the rest of this ice season I am voluntarily going to implement this practice and see just how it effects my fishing success.

[biff]

NO...more of a feel good regulation. Studies haven't shown any real difference between barbless/barbed. No more unnecessary regs.

[westb]

No

[Finns]

Regulation----NO!

I go barbless (pinch down) totally, but would never MAKE someone else do it!

[20lbSloughShark]

no

[ncesi]

Circle hooks!!! No need for barbless.

[pathogen]

Nope. Mortality is not a function of the barb, it is a function of where the hook is embedded.

[mwal]

Most studies show Barb less is a fantasy. Circle hooks with live bait do make a difference. In fact some studies showed possible increased mortality with Barb less due to over penetration and re hooking during during the fight. Where they help is unhooking fisherman and when using nets to land fish. Look up hooks and hooking mortality on the net a very studied subject. I use circles hooks on bobber rigs and tried on lindy rigs. They worked good with bobbers and minnows you must use much bigger hooks than you are used to. 1 0/0 for walleye and bass. Larger for pike. Fish must take bait and run away from you for them to work. On rigs I had poor success.

Mwal

[Dusty]

no

[ClownColor]

Nope

[walleye 4 me]

doesn't your state have enough regulations already??? no to barbless

[Neighbor_guy]

I am all for barbless.

I pinch all my barbs and use barbless or pinched barb circle hooks on any bait live or dead.

I have never wished for a hook with a barb.

In my experience fish are returned to the water healthier and quicker. If you have kids in the boat or fish house it makes life easier as well.

[OnAFly]

Agreed. Removing hooks from everything is 1000X easier with barbless hooks.

There are already barbless regs for trout CR season. The trout world hasn't ended...yet

[Hawg]

No

[mn86]

i guess the only time i haven't been able to release a fish is if it was gut hooked. now if your using a barbless hook will a gut hooked fish survive?

[Ron Vroom]

Thanks for the replies, this as been an interesting learning experience. As suggested by one reader, I did do some research on line, and based upon that, I am retracting my theory that barbless hooks would reduce the mortality of released fish. The studies indeed do show that barbed or barbless hooks make little difference whether a released fish survives.

[Boar]

my finger would've appreciated barbless hooks not to long ago thats for sure. how many have had that fish hooked up into the eye socket and you can see the eyeball is gona be, wel not the same if you will, sure would be nice if the hook was barbless in those situations if you gona release the fish.

[OnAFly]

i guess the only time i haven't been able to release a fish is if it was gut hooked. now if your using a barbless hook will a gut hooked fish survive?

Ever hooked a fish that took long enough to get off the hook that it either died from stress (summer) or the fins/eyes froze (winter)? The idea isn't that unintended fish mortality is eliminated. It is that it's reduced.

Can someone post these mortality studies so we are all at least looking at the same studies.

[Ron Vroom]

Here is one study.

Default Full text of hooking mortality study

"The Issue of Hooking Mortality and Trout Management

Jeff Williams – Arkansas Game & Fish Commission

Darrell Bowman – Bella Vista Property Owners Association

Harvest restrictions, such as length limits or catch-and release regulations, have long been a tool for biologists to manage recreational fisheries. Although length limits were historically implemented to prevent over harvest and protect juvenile fish until they reached maturity, they have also been used to increase the size distribution of fish populations. Regardless of the type of harvest restriction, the primary goal is to reduce the mortality of fishes in the population of interest. However, angling related mortality includes direct mortality from harvest as well as post-release hooking mortality of fishes that are caught and released. Therefore, if the fish anglers are required to release under a particular regulation die anyway as a result of hooking mortality then the ultimate effectiveness of the regulation may be limited. For this reason, regulations that prohibit certain angling gear generally accompany special regulations such as length limits and catch-and-release requirements. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) currently prohibits the use of natural or scented baits in areas with special trout regulations solely because of the higher post-release mortality associated with bait fishing compared to that observed with artificial lures and flies. A review of the scientific literature substantiates this practice.

Hunsaker and Marnell (1970) compared hooking mortality for cutthroat trout in Yellowstone Lake caught on single hook lures, single barbless hook lures, single treble hook lures, and single barbless treble hook lures, single hook baited with a worm. In summary, hooking mortality for all lures combined was 4%. Hooking mortality for bait-caught trout was 48%, overall. However, for bait caught trout, they evaluated hooking mortality for trout that swallowed the hook separately from trout that did not swallow the hook, which resulted in drastically different results. Hooking mortality was 8% for trout that did not swallow the hook, but was 73% for trout that did swallow the hook. Overall, 55% of the trout caught on bait, swallowed the hook. Taylor and White (1992) conducted a statistical analysis of results from 18 trout hooking mortality studies and generated an overall summary of those studies. They found that hooking mortality overall was 4% for artificial single and treble hook lures combined, compared to 31% hooking mortality associated with bait-caught trout. Pauley and Thomas (1993) studied cutthroat trout hooking mortality comparing single hook lures, single treble hook lures, and bait (worms). They found a much higher mortality rate for artificial lures than any other study at 20% for single hook lures and treble hook lures combined. However, bait-caught trout hooking mortality (49%) was more than double that of artificial lures. Schill (1996) measured hooking mortality for rainbow trout caught on worms in both a hatchery and a trout stream. He found the lowest overall hooking mortality (16%) associated with bait fishing for trout, of the studies reviewed herein. Like Hunsaker and Marnell (1970), Schill found very low mortality associated with trout that were not deep-hooked at only 2% in the hatchery study. However, 63% of the trout studied were deep hooked. Of those deep hooked, mortality was 74% for trout released after the hook was removed and 47% for trout released by cutting the line. This represents a 36% reduction in hooking mortality simply by cutting the line.

These studies indicate that the high post-release mortality associated with bait is directly related to the higher incidence of deep-hooking with bait. Because bait is fished passively (“slack line”), the fish has a greater chance of being hooked in the gut or other vital organ. In contrast, both artificial lures and flies, which are fished actively, have a higher incidence of hooking fish in the jaw or other non-lethal location resulting in a much lower post-release mortality.

Although there are those that would contend that only artificial lures with single hooks should be allowed in special regulation areas, the scientific literature does not support this assertion. Klein (1965) caught trout from a rearing pond with a daredevil type lure equipped with either a single hook or a single treble hook, and then released the trout into a raceway to monitor post-release hooking mortality. Overall, he found low hooking mortality with both hook types, but actually measured lower hooking mortality with treble hook lures (3%) than with single hook lures (6%). Klein stated that the single hook was often taken farther into the mouth than the treble hook and therefore, inflicted a more serious injury than the treble hook, which usually hooked in the edge of the mouth. Marnell and Hunsaker (1970) measured 5% hooking mortality for cutthroat trout caught on treble hook lures. Hunsaker and Marnell (1970) studied hooking mortality for cutthroat trout in Yellowstone Lake with barbed flies, barbless flies, barbed treble hook lures, barbless treble hook lures, and a trolled single hook and worm. They found low hooking mortality for all four artificial lure types with 4 % for single hook lures and 4% for treble hook lures. Dotson (1982) only documented one trout mortality out of a sample of 315 trout while comparing hooking mortality differences between single and treble hook lures. Schill et al. (1986) documented 3% hooking mortality in Yellowstone River managed under catch-and-release regulations with artificial lures and flies. Snuffer and Alexander (1992) compared hooking mortality for wild brook trout caught with five different lure types including Mepps spinners and Cleo spoons rigged with either a single hook or a treble hook, and Rapala lures with two treble hooks. They found 2% hooking mortality when lures were equipped with a single hook and 8% hooking mortality when lures were equipped with a single treble hook. They found no mortality associated with Rapala lures with two treble hooks. Taylor and White (1992) found that hooking mortality overall was 4% for single hook lures and 5% for single treble hook lures. Pauley and Thomas (1993) compared hooking mortality of sea-run cutthroat trout associated with spinners equipped with either a single hook or a single treble hook and found much higher mortality rates than any other study at 16% for single hook lures and 24% for single treble hook lures. These higher rates were attributed to the fact that sea-run cutthroat are larger and more aggressive than stream dwelling cutthroat and therefore took lures deeper than trout in other studies. Schisler and Bergersen (1996) measured 4% hooking mortality for rainbow trout caught on artificial flies. Schill and Scarpella (1997) found an overall 5% hooking mortality associated with artificial lures and flies by summarizing results from other salmonid studies.

The requirement of artificial lures with barbless hooks in areas under special regulations is also not clearly supported by the fisheries literature. Hunsaker and Marnell (1970) compared hooking mortality for cutthroat trout in Yellowstone Lake caught on single hook lures, single barbless hook lures, single treble hook lures, and single barbless treble hook lures. They found no significant difference in hooking mortality for single hook lures (4%) and single barbless hook lures (3%). For treble hook lures, they found higher mortality with barbless treble hooks (6%) compared to barbed treble hooks (3%), but again the difference was not statistically significant. Dotson (1982) found no mortality with either barbed or barbless single hooks. Schill and Scarpella (1997) summarized the results from past salmonid hooking mortality studies. For flies and artificial lures combined across studies, average hooking mortality was 4.5% for barbed hooks and 4.2% for barbless hooks. They stated that “a 0.3% mean difference in hooking mortality from the two hook types is irrelevant at the population level, even when fish are subjected to repeated capture”. Therefore, they deemed the restriction of barbed hooks, a “social issue”.

Based on the current knowledge of hooking mortality associated with terminal tackle, the prohibition of natural or scented baits in special trout management areas in Arkansas will likely continue. The use of circle hooks for bait fishing has demonstrated the potential of reducing post-release mortality to less than 10% hooking mortality. However, there remains much research to be done on this subject before bait fishing with circle hooks would be allowed in special management areas.

The scientific literature indicates that artificial lures of any type will likely yield less than 10% hooking mortality. However, the type of artificial lures allowed in special regulation areas throughout Arkansas has been inconsistently applied. Some areas allow barbless, treble-hooked lures while others require lures with single, barbless hooks. This inconsistency in what types of lures are allowed can be very confusing to anglers. And although the requirement of lures with single, barbless hooks is likely the most conservative approach, it may unnecessarily exclude anglers that prefer to use treble-hooked lures. Barbless lures do not significantly reduce hooking mortality, but probably reduce some damage to fish and therefore have a value in trout management. In the future, the AGFC Trout Management Program will endeavor to make the types of artificial lures allowed in special regulation areas consistent throughout the state."

[mainbutter]

I don't always use barbless hooks. I don't on bass, pike, and musky lures, I get good and quick releases very reliably.

I don't use barbless hooks when I'm keeping fish (especially salmon) - if I lost a keeper on a barbless, I'd always be asking if a barb would have made a difference.

I do on panfish flies, because dehooking is so much easier especially with deeply hooked fish. I sure don't seem to lose any bluegills. I do run into bluegills that suck the flies deep, and a barbless hook just removes easier.

I also with do big circle hooks for ocean fishing. I'm usually CPR-ing, and a big barb on a big hook can be a pain to release. I don't put up with a 5 minute dehooking fiasco which I've seen from others on the beach, a pinched-barb 20/0 circle hooks slide out easy.

[DTro]

Barbless hooks help a lot to get the fish back in the water quicker and easier, but if you fish with live bait a lot, it is a real pain to deal with the bait falling off.

As a convenience factor I prefer having the barb to hold the bait on vs the ease of unhooking the fish. Its almost a wash though...at least for me and how I fish.