De-barbing your hook
 

So every lure I buy has barbed hooks. Is crimping them down with pillars good enough?

Thats what I do but sometimes i have a hard time getting them off. Is there a better way than using pliers?

As long as there is no metal from the barb that is poking out to catch the membrane.

If you do it well. I'll use foreceps and finish it off with a little filing if it still catches my finger.

So pretty much it is gonna do the trick then. Guess I need a small file.

If you pinch them down, I use needlenose pliers, run your finger where the barb is, if it catches your skin, needs more crimping. They will ticket you if there is any type of point, even if you crimped it.

Pinching the barbs on lures is always imperfect.

On some hooks the barb will break off leaving a ledge.

Until more barbless hooks are offered in stores, or lures come with them, I will not worry about the microscopic details.

If you pinch the barb as best as possible, you will not have a problem.

I guess until you have a fish cop run his fingers over your barb you'll never know (arrrgh, makes me feel dirty just saying that LOL). I've never had one test mine so I'm running on assumptions. But it only takes a few seconds to do what looks like a competent job.

I use a pair of flat jawed forceps for mine and haven't had any problems with releasing fish on my flies.

I'm sure that any decent judge would dismiss the ticket (should I ever get one) if I were to show him any of my fly boxes and demonstrated a clear intent to comply with the regulations...

I find crushing the barb. then giving the plyers a spin around the hook while keeping pressure, grinds down the barb. I got a warning from f&w for an improperly pinched barb. this resulted in a ticket a year later for the same thing, my fault. now I am very careful that they are well crushed.

This is exactly what I do with larger hooks, works well.

Guess I just don't like hurting my hooks, don;t want them to break, ;).

had a fish cop stick my hook through his glove to check my barb luckily it didnt snag but i also heard tale of them using a q tip to check id be careful if you been warned

I will be looking for a small file.

I use a Dremel tool to remove the barb completely whenever I buy lures or hooks. Pretty quick and barb is 100% gone.

Careful with the dremel, the heat generated will weaken the hook and it could snap on an aggressive hookset.

Pinching the barbs with needle nose pliers, and then twisting the hook back and forth will legally pinch your barbs, everytime. Just as Fish Gunner suggested.

I have also heard of F&W poking the hook through their shirt, and if it snags any thread, it's ticket worthy. This is a good way to check your hooks, to see if your hooks are legal or not.

I agree with barbed hooks.....but all this talk of snagging q-tips or a shirt to test the barb, what a crock. IMO clothing does not simulate the texture of a fish even remotely.

I find a crush and a quick twist with good needlenose pliers will break the barb off and not damage the hook at all...

I'm a little more careful now, took a big stonefly in my left cheek from a miscast in high winds. The barb was gone, but still had the nub. Weird feeling yanking that out.

A question that I've had for a while about barbless hooks in Alberta... if barbed hooks are illegal, why are they allowed to be sold here?

I've looked everywhere for barbless hooks here in town and found zero suppliers/retailers. I'd rather have two separate tackle boxes (three if you count the National Parks) that have all barbless lures and hooks for Alberta, one set up for the National Park.. no lead etc) and one for everywhere else that allows barbed hooks (I'm still going to crimp them but at least I wouldn't have to risk a FW deciding that the hook isn't quite as barbless as it should be).

I got some Gamakatsu barb-less trebles from Wholesale Sports last year, so I'm sure they have at least those. I think The Fishin' Hole also has them in stock, but not 100% sure. The barb-less hooks are easily doubled the price of the regular hooks though :(.

It'll get expensive if we were to keep different tackles for different regions. I can only wish for separate tackle boxes, still swapping out/in stuff depending where I fish.

I use a fly tying vise , Or Whatever flyfisherman call them they are like Hemostats , that make quick work of a barb , or Simple get barbless hooks , Which I use for river fishing , but they sell Barbless treble hooks.

I use the dremel as well. It does work very well. I have been concerned about the integrity of the hook. I have not had a problem yet and I have used some of these hooks for Salmon fishing. I de-barb all my hooks now whether legal or not. Also use single hooks as much as possible. It does make for a quick and easy release.
I had a F&W guy call me on a barb I had pinched down. He ran the fishing line along the hook against the barb. If there is resistance, it is ticketable. He did just give me a warning though. He was kind of rude, but it could have been worse. I have been using the dremel ever since.
I agree that the intent should be good enough. If you have made your best effort to bend down the barb, that should be good enough. Unfortunately, it looks like that is not necessarily the case. The barbs don't always cooperate. I was finding I broke a lot of barbs using the twisting method described here.

Thanks for that info, next time we're in Edmonton, we'll check out TFH.

We move from one end of the country to the other on a regular basis so we just got used to keeping different tackle boxes. What can I say, some women like collecting shoes and handbags, I like collecting tackle..lol

I simply crush down the Barks with a good set of pliers with a flat spot. Just have to hover the edge of the pliers on a certain spot and it will arch the barb closed.

i use a big pair of fencing pliers to crush them down to nothing....most of my hooks look like it was ground off...i dont expect any problems from CO's.

This area always makes me nervous as it sounds like whomever you have checking them will be either anal or not anal. I pinch them with pliers so I dont see the sharp point but it still has a bump. I find especially with smaller flies it's a dangerour road. Nothing is more frustrating in loosing a nice fly as you break the hook trying to get tht barb down.

Q-tip??? that is just rediculous

If the barb is pinched, and I was clearly intending to follow all regulations and still got a ticket, I would be livid

oh the joy of fishing in SK

It's illegal to shoot someone but you can still buy guns...illegal to drink and drive but you can still buy booze. If we outlawed the sale of everything that could be used illegally, there wouldn't be much on the store shelves...

That doesn't quite make sense. You're speaking about heavily regulated items that if compliances is met by the owner/user, they can still use them. The only way to use barbed hooks in Alberta is to make them barbless.

There are bathroom and kitchen sinks not allowed to be installed in Canada because they don't meet the CSA standard and they are not allowed to be sold here;

Lawn darts with elongated points are illegal to use and you can't bring them into the country or sell them;

There are tons of baby equipment that is porhibited and you can not sell it in Canada;

I mean if using barbed hooks is a big deal here in Alberta, why allow stores to sell them? Manufacturers create new lines all the time to meet legislation.

This has been my problem in the past as well. After reading some of the other posts on this subject I will be considering other options but for the most part my barbs are well pinched. I will be having a look at them all again to see if there are any potential "snaggers"...

I've never been issued a warning or otherwise hassled by officers despite many license checks. The best was when they came around last July and checked my two buddies as well as my girlfriend who were fishing from shore and saw that all of the purchase dates were from the day before and then said to me (while I was a good twenty or more feet offshore) "Let me guess, you bought yours yesterday too?"

We all had a chuckle and I offered to come in to have him verify but he politely thanked us and continued on his way.