Barbless Hook Conundrum

[marmalade]

I received the other day a set of rather dishy hooks called "living larva" made by fulling mill.

The minute I opened the envelope there was a knock on the door and Mr and Mrs Trout were there saying 'Please let us in, those hooks look delicious'. You don't even have to go fishing, the hooks are that good.

However, they have barbs on and I don't use barbed hooks. At all. I could crush them in my fist and remove the barbs or I could send them back.

The thing is, there are no really comparable barbless hooks. However, if I use them, the manufacturer will continue to make hooks with barbs. On top of that I find tying the stupid fly hard enough without having to mess around crunching barbs.

And it's always the barb you forgot to crush that catches a fish the size of a house with an audience that could fill Old Trafford three times over in very non-barbed water.

On top of this, the supplier went to some effort to get hold of these hooks and ordered them especially. It seems churlish to send them back. And I'm not sure the manufacturer will care that much what I do with the hooks (unless I shove them up their wiggly woo wah with an angry letter attached).

What should I do?

[HOOK]

Gan course fishing.

Robbie

[BRUCE1]

think ya ought to lay off the weed marmalade two strange posts in one night its to much to bare , you will have us "hooked" before long

[g bigtrout]

Could use pliers and cut point off aswell....then the audience could count how many times your line pulls to see how many fish you came in contact with...but then again the manager mite throw you off for not using barbless.....could be pointless then.

[marmalade]

Gave up weed the minute they stopped importing it from Afganistan..

I'm vaguely serious about the barbless thing: it seems that there is a much slimmer choice of barbless hooks, despite the evidence suggesting a slight benefit from using them and a number of places insisting on their use.

I'm informed that they are more expensive to produce because the barb actually make production easier. Maybe that's the reason.

---------- Post added at 12:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:09 AM ----------

Originally Posted by g bigtrout

Could use pliers and cut point off aswell....

:-)

You may laugh, but I do that too!

[steveparton]

What is your problem with barbs ? Is it a 'Me I'm nicer than you are !! ' pose or what ?

True barbless hooks are an expensive swine to Manufacture ( most of the subsequent operations index off a barb ) ( ring me and I'll take you to Mr Sprite so you can clearly see and understand )

And if you don't want a barb - file the damned thing off and stop being Holier than Thou ! - Or do what the rest of us do and file it down as small as you can and have it still function.

The barb is an essential and very British device . Honour Redditch and the hook trade and use barbs - they have a serious function - they are for real fishermen not play actors !

Steve Parton

[ickypimp]

Knapek 07T are a barbless version of the style of hook you want

[marmalade]

Steve, they are also banned on quite a few waters, and from running the odd search on the web, they don't seem to be that good for C&R fish (although as I said, the evidence isn't unequivocal).

I'd rather pay more and have them barbless to start with than fiddle around with a file.. Filing them down and still having them work is the letter of the law, not the spirit.

And I know barbed hooks are for real fishermen, but I hate that gristly squelch when I have (actually, had) to pull them out of my cheek.

---------- Post added at 12:30 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:28 AM ----------

Originally Posted by ickypimp

Knapek 07T are a barbless version of the style of hook you want

Excellent! I shall get some! The living larva can live somewhere else..

[ickypimp]

Your welcome...

[Scratch]

Originally Posted by marmalade

What should I do?

Make sure you know what you're ordering next time?