if your fishing wood and bluefish hit i like to bend my barbs down, -----most guys think thay will loose a fish, but your doing the fish stock a favor, ;) ------------are you pinching yours down????
yep! easier to release fish.
always -
ALWAYS crimp barbs
well ill bend the barbs when im trout fishing........but most and just about all my lures and plugs have single hooks for just that reason when those toothie buggers r around single hooks are easy to bop that fish back into the ocean for next time..........but do to the fact that not only am i fighting a decent size fish im also working with the ocean current and the waves to play that fish.............so im sorry guys i do admitt i dont bend my barbs.......yes trout fishing is one thing............but my barbs are up like my tallywacker :D
I'm a big supporter of barbless fishing. As long as you keep pressure on the fish you won't lose it. The only fish I ever fish for with barbed hooks is bonito and tuna. They run too fast to keep up with.
I bend all my barbs down - I've never noticed an ounce of difference as far as losing fish goes. It also makes it a lot easier to remove a hook from impaled human body parts. Salty, I've been using nothing but barbless circle hooks for tuna since 1998, and I've never had a fish spit the hook even once. Once they're on they're on.