Scott, you do a some valid points. My reason for posting this originally was
so that those who do hook a fish deep have a tool to help release without
injury. It's help tremendously for me in the past, and I'll continue to
carry it in my tackle box. As far as using de-barbed hooks, to me that would
be the same as taking a gun hunting without bullets, I can beat the prey to
death, but I think I could take it down easier if I had used bullets. With
barbed hooks I have more of a chance of getting the fish to the boat, and
then I can release it unharmed. This tool has saved many a fish that
probably would had died after release, or even before a weigh-in. Some of
the guys in my club have actually came over to my boat during a tournament
to use this tool. Using de-barbed hooks or not will always be a pro/con
situation that'll be carried on after we're all gone, so there's no winners
in the conversation.




"Scott Seidman" wrote in message
. 1.4...
Thundercat wrote in
news
Did you even bother to go and look at the tool? I think not. If you
had gone to the link provided initially, we would not be having this
discussion right now. And you would not be pluckin' my nerves as my
Nana used to say. Here it is again http://www.dbarb.com/ so you can
see WTF you are talking about.

Harry J aka Thundercat
Brooklyn Bill's Tackle Shop Fishing Team
http://www.brooklynbillstackleshop.com
Share the knowledge, compete on execution.



Of course I went and looked at the tool. In fact, how else would I have
known from this thread that debarbing takes place in the fish? It calls
for more handling of the fish than using hooks that have already been
debarbed. Also, if the point is buried deep in flesh (the fish's or
yours), this tool isn't going to get the barb without a bunch of messing
around. Which part of that plucks your nerves?

IMO, a recreational C&R fisherman should consider debarbing his hooks.
While release mortality is very hard to measure well in natural
conditions, I go under the assumption that fishing with barbs increases
mortality. This tool might alleviate some of it, but likely not all of
it. Even with debarbed hooks, there will still be some mortality.

There are some valid arguments for not debarbing, and relying on this
tool. I'll even present some. 1) "It's more expensive to maintain two
sets of hooks if I want to use barbed hooks for tournament fishing." 2)
"If I have two sets of hooks, I might use the wrong one when the money is
on the line." 3) "There's some studies that suggest that debarbed hooks
cause more damage by impaling deeper and causing multiple punctures at
one site, so I don't use debarbed hooks." 4) "I think C&R mortality is
low enough, even with barbed hooks, that I don't think using debarbed
hooks is important". 5) "I don't care that using debarbed hooks will
result in even lower mortality than using this tool". Even 6) " I
couldn't care less about fish mortality" is a valid argument. Suggesting
that I don't know WTF I'm talking about isn't (and if frankly offensive).
Turning this around, have you EVER fished with debarbed hooks? If not,
couldn't I say that YOU might be a tad deficient in knowing what you're
talking about?

I'm happy to keep this going, politely. Like it or not, even C&R fishing
is a blood sport. How to minimize fish mortality is certainly a valid
topic for this group. It's also something that every responsible
fisherman should think about sometimes. If you knew that mortality was
0%, and every fish you released lived, you'd probably think about your
sport a little differently than you would if you knew that release
mortality was 100%, and every fish you released died. Well, the true
answer is somewhere in between those two extremes.

I'll put it out again. If you're fishing recreationally, and how many
fish you boat isn't important, why leave the barbs on your hook if you
have any reason to think that it will save some fish to pinch them back?

Scott