barbed hooks not illegal

[DiabeticKripple]

Originally Posted by WayneChristie

Hate to burst some peoples bubbles, but Ive fished the Bow in the Calgary area for more than 40 years, with barbs. bet there were far fewer floaters than you could find in any day the last few years, people have to play fish harder and longer to keep them on the hooks with no barbs, no slack and balls to the wall drag. bet it killed a lot more fish than giving them a little slack and letting them rest during the fight with barbs on the hook. I hate the barbless rule, no scientific proof that it helps fish, in fact just the opposite. and if its easier to get a hook out of the fisherman? maybe the fisherman should be a bit more frikkin careful??? just another political move with no legit reasoning behind it. For myself, if I left the barbs on my hooks I would have landed another 30 fish easy just in the last 10 days, so guess what, Im not squishing barbs anymore until and unless they make it illegal legally. dont like it? stay off my sidewalk.

i agree. if it doesnt hurt the fish anymore than a barbless, i wont be pinching any barbs until it officially goes through. now i wont look through my box just for a barbed hook, but if i make a new jig its staying barbed

[New Hunter Okotoks]

I found that I wasted a ton of baits while jigging because the baits would just slide off the smooth hook. I used to put 1 inch ahead of tail on a swedish pimple and it worked great. I gave up a couple years ago because I was rebaiting so often.

I just picked up about 2 dozen new lures and hooks on the weekend. The barbs are staying on. I will have to go and get more to change the hooks out on favorite jigging lures.

[niwrek]

Just to let you know,I got pinched for not pinching barbs ona hook last year. Has this law not been in affect since 2006????. I agree barbs are priobably less harmfull, or at least no different then barbless hooks

[BeeGuy]

Originally Posted by goldscud

BeeGuy, the Bow would be better if there was more caddis around like in the 70's. During that time there was pods of rising fish gorging on bugs every night (and it started at 7pm, not 10pm). Better sewage system today has dropped the productivity in the river from amazing to very high. You're right in thinking it is still an awesome place to play.

Thanks for that. No comment on the didymo?

[Winch101]

What ??!! There was a law that said you couldnt have barbs on your hooks?

Whooooooo would come up with such a thing......Not the guy that closed all

the lakes..... I have said many times on here ....that those conservatives

are " No friends of ours " They now add Nepotism to their vast array

of defects..... As my dear old Dad use to say ..." They couldnt get sex in a womans prison with a hand full of pardons " I think I have 2 jigs with pinched barbs ...New Ok....pm me and I will explain the best baitholder for barbless
jigs ...Way to get to the bottom of this Sun-K

[Mudslide]

I've always thought barbless was minimally effective. If it's the law, I'll obey it but if not, I'll probably only pinch barbs on crank bait trebles.

[Sundancefisher]

Originally Posted by latenite

Thanks Sun, a real eyeopener. Not sure how this will change my fishing approach, maybe I will continue to pinch the barbs. I just wish they would have made more public, kinda shady i.m.o.

I would say the biggest problem with dead fish is people playing the fish too long, holding it out of the water too long for photos and to remove hooks, bait fishing and not paying attention to the bite, not being careful getting the hook out and cutting the line if the hook was too far down, dragging the fish onto land, or into a boat.

There are tons of education initiatives that would save fish more than barbless hooks. Barbless hooks turns more kids off the sport cause they see far fewer fish.

IMHO

[fishpro]

Originally Posted by WayneChristie

Hate to burst some peoples bubbles, but Ive fished the Bow in the Calgary area for more than 40 years, with barbs. bet there were far fewer floaters than you could find in any day the last few years, people have to play fish harder and longer to keep them on the hooks with no barbs, no slack and balls to the wall drag. bet it killed a lot more fish than giving them a little slack and letting them rest during the fight with barbs on the hook. I hate the barbless rule, no scientific proof that it helps fish, in fact just the opposite. and if its easier to get a hook out of the fisherman? maybe the fisherman should be a bit more frikkin careful??? just another political move with no legit reasoning behind it. For myself, if I left the barbs on my hooks I would have landed another 30 fish easy just in the last 10 days, so guess what, Im not squishing barbs anymore until and unless they make it illegal legally. dont like it? stay off my sidewalk.

I have to disagree with this. If you're playing the fish harder, wouldn't that make the fighter shorter?

It also seems to me that giving a fish a break in the middle of a fight would be worse for the fish. If you fight a fish steady throughout, you'd get it in sooner, and therefore less time with it fighting to its max and thus spending less energy. If you gave the fish a break, it would be able to rest and be able to fight harder once again, although it wouldn't gain any energy. This would extend the fight and result in more of its energy stores being used up, meaning it would take longer for the fish to recouperate.

Just my opinion. Why do you think it's worse for the fish to play it harder through the entire fight?

[ericlin0122]

I will still pich my barbs unless it states clearly barbed hook is okay in regulation.

[pickrel pat]

No apologys for good ole thrude?

[trainerdave]

I will probably use barbless for trout-which I release unless in a stocked situation and they get a hook in the gills. Small barbed flies almost never had a problem getting a hook out of a lip easy in -easy out if you follow the same pathway. Always used to release the pike with barbs but trebles seem to work o.k. without. Maybe a single barbed hook rule could be a compromise, all trebles barbless. Or at least in trout waters single barbed only perhaps? I agree with Sundance when it comes to kids it is nice to take them to a stocked pond and have them catch a few more. Those put and take fisheries are managed for harvest.

[fishunter]

The warning i got they can keep but I want my money back.

[yada]

Horray for barbed hooks!!!!

I'll still pich all my barbs unless its a small hook or the barbs are hard to pinch.

[fish on]

Your new and his name is Sun
Sundance doesn't stear people wrong
He has some of the best posts on this site
Info is second to none

Originally Posted by Rustomatic

Is this a BS thread, I can usually tell. Anywhere one can get confirmation for themselves?

[AxeMan]

Wow, kind of a big story! I have mixed feelings on this one. For C & R, I will likey stay barbless but for keepers that may change. I will wait for official notice in the regs before I change anything though.

[fisherman420]

I add more barbs to all my hooks that way when I hook a nice fat female loaded with eggs she isnt getting off and she goes straight to the smoker

[pickrel pat]

Originally Posted by fisherman420

I add more barbs to all my hooks that way when I hook a nice fat female loaded with eggs she isnt getting off and she goes straight to the smoker

Hopefully you only fish collapsed lakes! Lol.

[fisherman420]

Originally Posted by pickrel pat

Hopefully you only fish collapsed lakes! Lol.

Im only fishing hasse lake this year, thats the only lake in Alberta thats alive thanks to the gov

[BeeGuy]

Is there a limit to the number of barbs per hook?

[waterninja]

pretty amazing how this thread has progressed all because some janitor was snooping around someones office. my appolagies to op for thinking he was trolling. if i plan to keep my catch then i'll probably go barbed but for catch and release will stay barbless, not because barbless is less harmfull but because it's easier to to remove hook.

[huntsfurfish]

Originally Posted by Sundancefisher

I would say the biggest problem with dead fish is people playing the fish too long, holding it out of the water too long for photos and to remove hooks, bait fishing and not paying attention to the bite, not being careful getting the hook out and cutting the line if the hook was too far down, dragging the fish onto land, or into a boat.

There are tons of education initiatives that would save fish more than barbless hooks. Barbless hooks turns more kids off the sport cause they see far fewer fish.

IMHO

Agree or x2

[huntsfurfish]

Finally came to their senses

It should be voluntary as to barbed/barbless. Lots of older threads on here debating the issue.

No secret ive been pro barb.

Probably the main issues with a law like that was A - No/very little evidence to support it. B - Unpopular and C - virtually unenforceable.

If I remember correctly, B and C were high on the list why a northwestern state(study) recomended against barbless alone.

[CPT_420]

Yeee-haaawwww!!! Barbz be back baby!!! Now if only they screwed up on the gaff regulations, I could be gaffin' those big girls on Wab so my hands don't get wet! Incompetent guberment frig up's for the win

[Wild&Free]

Pulling a barbed hook out can remove more tissue then pulling a barbless hook. More damage done, which relates to more harm done to the fish, which increases it's mortality rate. Just using logic as I have no scientific data to back this claim, but I've never seen any scientific data claiming barbed hooks are the same as barbless in regards to fish mortality.

Doesn't happen every time, but it does happen far more frequently then with barbless hooks. I've had bad hook sets with both and usually keep the fish unless it's a C&R only body of water or fishery. Which is another issue, C&R fisheries should be barbless imo, since the hookup and the fight is the reason for fishing and not the landing and taking home of food.

Also, with slot sizes and fishing with barbed hooks for food, you're still going to be releasing the small ones, or big ones depending on the lake. (damn you Bischto for your lack of 43-49cm walleye) Not loosing that slot fish is very important, but potentially causing permanent damage to countless fish for just 1 or 2 is, well, not for me. Really though, if I'm food fishing I've got a barbless treble on (unless its trout) and hardly lose a thing on a treble.

[EZM]

Originally Posted by niwrek

I farted

Is that beef you had last night? ...... I can ussually tell and that tastes beefy to me ..........

I'm ok with keeping my bigger gear barbless - anything I can do to avoid unnessasary damage to a fish and/or making release easier is OK with me.

Despite the law, and how it ends up, all C&R waters should be barbless.

Come to think of it, I will probably continue to pinch off or grind off all my barbs - I think it does make it harder to keep a fish on the hook but the positives outweigh the negatives in my mind.

[Geezle]

Originally Posted by Badback

Call Dr Hook....For those born 1980 and onward you might not get the joke...

Born in '81 and I got it

[jacenbeers]

Originally Posted by Badback

Call Dr Hook....For those born 1980 and onward you might not get the joke...

I saw on article about this on the Cover of the Rolling Stone.

[Lornce]

I phoned Fish and Wildlife this morning, I tie commercial flies and need to know the current standards. Yes the barbless hook law is not being enforced "at this time". The person I talked to said this is due to the Canadian Fisheries act which was rewritten and the Barbed/Barbless hook section was not included. I was also told to carefully watch for a change back to barbless. They could not give me a time just to be careful and keep an eye on future changes.

I personally am against barbed hooks for catch and release simply because of the damage I've seen. I've guided in Ontario, BC and Alberta and witnessed fishers who get frustrated because a barb is stuck in a fish. The result is ripping it out, instead of taking the time to extract it properly, it does take time to do properly . The other problem is barbed hooks take longer to extract resulting in a fish being out of water longer. A deterrent to catch and release. I will continue to pinch down the barbs on all the hooks I use. I have fished for well over 50 years and have nothing but the highest respect for all the species of fish I pursue.

[slivers86]

Even if you could fish with barbs, I don't think I would.

More fun wondering if you will get that big ass rainbow in when it comes 3ft out of the bow on line many lbs too light for the creature

[Kyle]

Pretty interesting stuff...I know that a single barbed hook is easy to get out of fish if you know what you are doing. I think the problem will be people who fish multiple barbed trebles and don't have a clue what they are doing.