Barbed verus barbless,a side by side test

[Northwinds]

Since I am waiting for parts for my air seeder,I decided to pass the time doing a test for hooking/landing percentages with barbed/barbless hooks.
To be fair,I took 2 identical rods and reels,put exactly 100 feet of line on them,then opened 2 new Apex trout lures,pinched the barbs on one and not the other.
I headed to a commercial trout pond that has roughly 3500 4.5 lb Rainbow trout that are very healthy and aggressive feeders,especially when supper is a hour late LOL.
The feed boat was used to troll both lures at the same speed,in rod holders at the same angle, the 100 feet of line was let out all the way with 10 cranks back on both reels and the test started.I decided to test until I had caught 20 fish on one lure.A fish only counted if I released it.
After about a hour,13 fish were released from the barb less rig ,with 20 being released on the barbed one.
The method of hook up was to keep the engine in gear after a bite until the slack was caught up on both rigs and only keeping the line tight until the fish was landed.
Again this was all performed on a commercial lake.

[BeeGuy]

What kind of hooks were they?

[rielbowhunter]

[alacringa]

Just to say: I grew up fishing with barbed hooks, and switched over to barbless after moving to AB. Now, I fish with barbless everywhere. They are easier to remove from fish, and from yourself. Better all-round.

[Northwinds]

Originally Posted by BeeGuy

What kind of hooks were they?

As near as I can tell,they were about a size 6 chromed single hook.

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by Northwinds

I decided to test until I had caught 20 fish on one lure.A fish only counted if I released it.
After about a hour,13 fish were released from the barb less rig ,with 20 being released on the barbed one.

Does this mean that you had 7 hits on the barbless rig that you didn't land?

[Northwinds]

Originally Posted by HunterDave

Does this mean that you had 7 hits on the barbless rig that you didn't land?

There were hits on both lures that were not landed, buthits did not count.The fish had to be landed to count. My test my rules LOL

[ETOWNCANUCK]

What was the point of the test? Whether barbed hooks will catch more, than barbless?

[winger7mm]

Originally Posted by Northwinds

There were hits on both lures that were not landed, buthits did not count.The fish had to be landed to count. My test my rules LOL

Hate to say it but your test is flawed if landed fish only counted. Seeing that barbed landed more fish then barbless, but how many strikes on each plus how many lost half battle, Hook up wouldnt matter if barbed or not, neither would what happens at the boat, its what happens between the boat and the hookset. IMO try again lol

[BeeGuy]

Originally Posted by winger7mm

Hate to say it but your test is flawed if landed fish only counted. Seeing that barbed landed more fish then barbless, but how many strikes on each plus how many lost half battle, Hook up wouldnt matter if barbed or not, neither would what happens at the boat, its what happens between the boat and the hookset. IMO try again lol

I disagree, the test was fine. Simple and to the point...

The only improvement I would suggest would be to replicate the test several more times in order to see how variable the results are.

[winger7mm]

Originally Posted by BeeGuy

I disagree, the test was fine. Simple and to the point...

The only improvement I would suggest would be to replicate the test several more times in order to see how variable the results are.

If your testing to see if barbed vs non-barbed catches more fish, then your wrong. Say the left rod had 27 bites with 23 hook ups that were lost half way with 10 landed, compared to the right rod 12 bites 10 hook ups and 8 fish landed. See where im going with this?? IMO to test it, yes you need to run a few more tests, but you also need to account for bites, hook ups, half losts and retreives. Simply due to barbed "holding" better then non-barbed right??

[BeeGuy]

I know what your saying, but I still disagree.

[waterninja]

i don't understand what you were testing. whether it is more effective to catch fish with a barbed vs. barbless hook (no brainer), or if it makes a difference in releaseing the fish safely?

i'll stick with barbs either way, thanks.

[Kokanee9]

I don't believe it was a test to see which hook catches more fish, more like a test to see fish to the side of the boat before they become unhooked.

I'm not really understanding how they were brought to the boat.

Quote: "The method of hook up was to keep the engine in gear after a bite until the slack was caught up on both rigs and only keeping the line tight until the fish was landed."

If the motor was put into idle or turned off while landing a fish, that would have had an effect on the action of the other hook without a fish, because it would have stopped moving in the water.

I can't see a difference of having a barb or not in relation to getting a fish to bite.

[Northwinds]

All I wanted was to see was the number of fish that made it to the boat,you guys are reading way to much into this.Since the hooks/setups were identical,the method of fighting was was the same,the only differance was the barbed/barbless feature. By leaving the boat in gear after getting a bite I was trying be unpartial in the way the hook was set,I was trying to eliminate the human error. The number of bites does not matter,it's again the number of landed fish.I can't sell bites.
All I can say is that last night,fishing the way I was fishing,with the targeted fish being very aggresive rainbow trout ,I had a way higher percentage of fish being landed with barbs. It was a small experiment done only one time just for giggles and kicks,however, for a commercial situation you can darn well bet next time I make a "pull" I will have barbs on.

[buckman]

Nothing worse than a big fish spitting the barbless hook.

I only use barbless if required by regulations.

More fish are injured by deep hooking and attemps to remove the hook than by anything else barbed or not.

Fact... barbed hooks LAND more fish.Is that not the purpose of fishing.As to weather you release them or not...its a personal choice.

[Lmil]

This sounds like a mythbusters episode.

I haven't tested it out yet (will this weekend, though), but I heard if you bend the barbless hook to offset them, they tend to reduce the chances of losing fish.

[Reddin]

Next test, don't take any pliers for releasing, and let us know how that goes.

[huntsfurfish]

Originally Posted by Reddin

Next test, don't take any pliers for releasing, and let us know how that goes.

Should always have pliers or hemostats! proper tool for releasing fish!

please keep your fingers out of their mouths and gills!


Ooops, I guess I am in this one too.

[Fish along]

Sounds like a good place to go fishing.

[Reddin]

Originally Posted by huntsfurfish

Should always have pliers or hemostats! proper tool for releasing fish!

please keep your fingers out of their mouths and gills!


Ooops, I guess I am in this one too.

That's my point. No one always does, whether forgetting or just ignorant.

[huntsfurfish]

Originally Posted by Reddin

That's my point. No one always does, whether forgetting or just ignorant.

sorry misunderstood.

I always does. Even have 4 stainless pairs on the boat, one for each fisherperson. Plus in tackle bags have backup.

[Woody_16]

Originally Posted by BeeGuy

The only improvement I would suggest would be to replicate the test several more times in order to see how variable the results are.

I won't touch on opinionated or subjective comments, but as an objective experiment, BeeGuy is right, your sample size is far too small to reach any legitimate conclusions.

[Kokanee9]

Originally Posted by Northwinds

All I wanted was to see was the number of fish that made it to the boat,you guys are reading way to much into this.Since the hooks/setups were identical,the method of fighting was was the same,the only differance was the barbed/barbless feature. By leaving the boat in gear after getting a bite I was trying be unpartial in the way the hook was set,I was trying to eliminate the human error. The number of bites does not matter,it's again the number of landed fish.I can't sell bites.
All I can say is that last night,fishing the way I was fishing,with the targeted fish being very aggresive rainbow trout ,I had a way higher percentage of fish being landed with barbs. It was a small experiment done only one time just for giggles and kicks,however, for a commercial situation you can darn well bet next time I make a "pull" I will have barbs on.

Thanks for clearing that part up for me. I was under the impression the motor was in neutral after 1 side had a fish on.

[BeeGuy]

Originally Posted by Woody_16

I won't touch on opinionated or subjective comments, but as an objective experiment, BeeGuy is right, your sample size is far too small to reach any legitimate conclusions.

To be fair, most ecological studies rely on pseudoreplication. I think that we can take something away from the OP's results, but that knowing how variable they are would tell us even more.

[new LT]

Originally Posted by BeeGuy

I disagree, the test was fine. Simple and to the point...

The only improvement I would suggest would be to replicate the test several more times in order to see how variable the results are.

If the test was fine. simple and to the point what was the point? Without knowing the number of hookup to the number of fish released you have no test as winger stated. As far as the number of fish caught on one hook over the other there is to may variables, the action of the lures can be different due to hook being pinched, the prop wash, the turning radius of the boat. The handling of the lure it's self can effect the test by what chemicals are on your hands. And even when all things are similar human error alone must be taken in to account. So unless he is testing something totally unseen i don't see where this is a test..

[BeeGuy]

You are entitled to your opinion.

You listed a lot of 'variables' there, however almost all of them were controlled for.

If your only point is to discount the OP's effort, your attempt has been noted.

If you want to discuss the experiment honestly, the opportunity persists.

[huntsfurfish]

Another and very important variable would be the side of the lures(barbed and barbless) to which way of the turn. Speeding or slowing the lure.

Was the rods/lures the same side throughout the test. And were all the turns in the same direction(always left, or always right)?

[trooper]

Originally Posted by buckman

Nothing worse than a big fish spitting the barbless hook.

I only use barbless if required by regulations.

More fish are injured by deep hooking and attemps to remove the hook than by anything else barbed or not.

Fact... barbed hooks LAND more fish.Is that not the purpose of fishing.As to weather you release them or not...its a personal choice.

Buckman, you are 100% right! All this BS about being Politically correct and releasing "my dinner".. "Ain't gunna happen".
I had some *****hole tell me that if he caught me using a barbed hook, he'd throw my tackle into the lake. I'm waiting for him. And as far as I'm concerned, political correctness is tyranny with manners.
Unless using a barbed hook again becomes illegal, I'm going to use them!

[Freedom55]

[QUOTE=buckman;1962386]Nothing worse than a big fish spitting the barbless hook.../QUOTE]

...except, maybe, a fish spitting a barbed hook.

Free