Briank
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Earlier this year I made a post about crimping down the barb of the Gamakatzu 3/0 circle hooks for channel cats and sturgeon.
Generally speaking throughout the fall I had very good luck once connected with barbless.
This one night I was very disappointed and frustrated in my results. I was fishing by myself, one line barbed and the other barbless. I had a good night placing a number of fish in the boat, but miss a number of fish. I felt them as I raised the rod to tighten the line, then they came off.
This happened three times.  I was to the point where I was planning my post stating that I was wrong and barbless was not the way to go.
Nibble, nibble...fish on! Then I lost it. 
I brought in my line to take off the barbless and retie with a new. That's when I realized I had changed hooks at the end of the last trip and didn't clip off the barb. The barbless hook I was blaming actually was barbed.
My thoughts on using barbless for channels and sturgeon have become stronger the more I use it. With the design of the circle hook, the hook actually becomes the barb and it's very difficult to have it fall out with slack line whether the fish is jumping or swimming away from the boat.
Barbless is a great tool to make the hook come out easier and quicker. Some would say this is more important when hooking into a mud puppy or and eel. 
Either way, next time out use your pliers and snap off the barb on one of your hooks and give it a try! 
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Briank's Trophy Catfishing and Sturgeon Adventures
Photo's From the 2009 Season<<
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AllenW
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All my Musky lures have the barbs bent down, haven't seen a problem with it yet and its been quite a few years since I started doing that.
Wouldn't supprise me you'd lose a few, but considering it seems to do less damage to the fish, and its usually easier to remove in both the fish and a person, I think its worth it..imho
Al
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Rootski
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Quote:
Either way, next time out use your pliers and snap off the barb on one of your hooks and give it a try!
I'm adding this to my "to-do" list before next April.
SR
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You are a fluke of the Universe. You have no right to be here, and whether you can hear it or not the Universe is laughing behind your back.
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northstar
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You have to fish barbless in Canada, it is the law. Never seems to be a problem with the hook coming out once hooked up. There is a problem with keeping bait on the hook. You can solve that with a little piece of rubber band on the end of the hook. The barbs on circle hooks are pretty rudimentary anyway so it isn't a big jump. The steel in barbless hooks is very hard and the barbs mostly snap right off rather than bend down.
Lots easier taking it out of your own hide! 
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Northstar - Even as you have done it unto the least of my children, you have done it unto me.
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Jeremy Liebig
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I also went barbless on all my Muskie lures this year as well. Only lost one fish this year that I can truly blame on the barbless hooks. Releases were also ten times quicker, easier, and much better on the fish.
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www.smokertackle.com
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stcroixer
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Last night we had a barbless octopus hook on. Landed a mid sized cat, my buddy "bassed" him in, hook popped out and went wizzing past my head, they sure do come out easy of a spaztic channel and I'm sure it would have backed out of my eye nicely had it landed there. I'm either going back to barbed hooks or I need to start wearing eye protection at night.
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Wishin I Was Fishin.......
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AllenW
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Quote:
Last night we had a barbless octopus hook on. Landed a mid sized cat, my buddy "bassed" him in, hook popped out and went wizzing past my head, they sure do come out easy of a spaztic channel and I'm sure it would have backed out of my eye nicely had it landed there. I'm either going back to barbed hooks or I need to start wearing eye protection at night.
one of the main reasons I went barbless was during a Musky tourny back in the 80's my partner hooked a nice fish with a suick, right at the boat it spit it out and it came back and nailed him in the face, close enough to a eye that we just cut the line and he held it there while I dragged him off to a hospital.
Had it been barbless, we'd have be back fishing after a band aid or two..
I don't break them off, just compress them with a pliars.
All of Canada is barbless?????
When did that happen?
Al
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Briank
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Trophy Channel Cat fishing on the Red River of the North is all barbless with a slot to maintain the world fishery that it is.
Kind like finding a lake were all muskies are 50+ inches with a chance at a possible 70. 
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Briank's Trophy Catfishing and Sturgeon Adventures
Photo's From the 2009 Season<<
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Whiskerkev
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They can have my barbs when they pry them out of my cold dead hands. When you use a float, they don't have nearly the opportunity to swallow a rig. The hook set is 90 percent of the fun. I can see a river where you fish on the bottom using the circles. I do use them a bit on the drift but I haven't been able to get that going well yet.
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Briank
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** Barbless~ not intended for every application!
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Briank's Trophy Catfishing and Sturgeon Adventures
Photo's From the 2009 Season<<
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northstar
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Quote:
All of Canada is barbless?????
When did that happen?
My bad. Manitoba. I'm not sure what the rest of Canada does.
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Northstar - Even as you have done it unto the least of my children, you have done it unto me.
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Barbless Circle Hook Recap of '09
