[Mike Barrio]

Hi folks

I've been finding it tricky to find nice barbless hooks at a reasonable price. Barbless dry fly hooks are reasonably easy to find, but hooks suitable for wets and nymphs seem more difficult. Do you think it might prove useful if I could find a small range to offer via the website?

Best wishes
Mike

[Kev Danby]

Mike, it might be worth a look on the coarse fishing sections as there are usually a good number of barbless hooks available and a few interesting styles especially in the carp hooks. For fine wire hooks the match fishing sections might be worth a look.

Previously i have always used spade end hooks for coarse fishing but a pal bought some eyed 16's and 18s that wets could be tied on.

http://www.anglingdirect.co.uk/store/coarse-match/terminal-tackle/hooks-and-hooks-to-nylon?p=2

http://www.tacklebargains.co.uk/acatalog/Tacklebargains_Coarse___Freshwater_Hooks_50.html


Cheers

Kev

[Mike Barrio]

Mike, it might be worth a look on the coarse fishing sections as there are usually a good number of barbless hooks available and a few interesting styles especially in the carp hooks. For fine wire hooks the match fishing sections might be worth a look.

Previously i have always used spade end hooks for coarse fishing but a pal bought some eyed 16's and 18s that wets could be tied on.

http://www.anglingdirect.co.uk/store/coarse-match/terminal-tackle/hooks-and-hooks-to-nylon?p=2

http://www.tacklebargains.co.uk/acatalog/Tacklebargains_Coarse___Freshwater_Hooks_50.html

Cheers
Kev

Cheers Kev

The fine wire, dry fly type are usually easy enough to find, it's the heavier standard shank with a decent wide gape type, for wets and smaller nymphs, that are trickier. These need to be stronger and heavier, to stand up to takes on the retrieve and obviously to sink better.

Most folk would probably shy away from spade end hooks for trout flies, I know they are used extensively in europe, but they have never been popular for fly tying in the UK

Best wishes
Mike

[Barry Robertson]

I would be intrested to know how many people actually bother with manufactured  barbless hooks?
Iam sure i remember Rob pointing out a good theory a while back that a barbed hook that was de barbed still has a wee bump helping to keep fish on while the fish performs acrobatics 
Do you think a barbless manufactured hook might be knocking a wee percentage off your catch rate 
Just a thought,
Maybe a Poll might proove intresting findings 

[Iain Cameron]

I would be intrested to know how many people actually bother with manufactured  barbless hooks?

me for one, I look for hte barbless models first - makes sense, since I de-barb all my hooks before fishing.

Mike, I would appreciate a source of good strong BLess hooks - I like the shape/colour of the Tiemco BL hooks, but feel they are a bit soft, and have had many a few straightened out on my this year. (but landed plenty, I don't find many fish coming off once hooked)

cheers
iain

[Mike Barrio]

Hi Iain

I'll see what I can find. So far I've had no luck in finding a good one ...... but I'm still looking


Hi Baz

To be honest, if there was a good range of barbless flies on the market, Haddo would be "barbless only" instead of "barbless or de-barbed" flies. It is amazing how many folk can't de-barb properly or simply don't bother It is also amazing how many folk have no de-barbed flies in their fly box whatsoever ...... Perhaps they never catch their limit or release fish?

Trust me, you won't lose any more fish than usual and I'm sure you'll find that you actually hook up on a few more

Best wishes
Mike

[Irvine Ross]

I just buy barbed hooks and flatten the barb.

The two advantages are:
1. You can choose from the full range on the market.
2. Barbed hooks stay put in my Wheatley foam lined fly boxes. The ones with the barb flattened always fall out and end in  a heap in the corner. Not a problem if you have S&F slotted foam boxes but I only have one.

Fishing with barbless or de-barbed hooks is no different to fishing with barbed hooks so long as you stay alert and keep the tension on.

cheers
Irvine

[Iain Goolager]

I've ordered some Partridge FlashPoint Ideal Nymph Barbless hooks from Lakeland which should have been here today
Hopefully this will resolve my BL Nymph hook requirements - but I've never seen one in the flesh yet.

The argument rages on regarding barbed, micro barbed and barbless hooks.

As I've stated before I'd prefer to and am aiming towards fishing barbless for all trout. Micro or debarbed (which often equates to the same thing in reality  ) is a good alternative & would be a step in the right direction towards fish appreciation.  That said, I'm as always the hypocrite & wouldn't consider barbless flies for Salmon (too scared of losing fish) which is a massive contradiction to my opinion that you don't lose any more fish than normal when fishing barbless.

Again it's each to their own - within the rules (and hopefully within the spirit of the game) but barbless is the side of the fence that I favour for Trout.

Iain

[Sandy Nelson]

me for one, I look for hte barbless models first - makes sense, since I de-barb all my hooks before fishing.

Mike, I would appreciate a source of good strong BLess hooks - I like the shape/colour of the Tiemco BL hooks, but feel they are a bit soft, and have had many a few straightened out on my this year. (but landed plenty, I don't find many fish coming off once hooked)

cheers
iain

Me for Two I always try to source Barbless hooks, pretty difficult for Saltwater
I had been trying our the Varivas hooks before we left, they have a great barbless wet fly hook
Just cant remember the number, will check when i get home and post it.
I would think if you could supply a really nice barbless hook then people would buy them.
Especially if they have a nice shape (like a B175)

Sandy

[Barry Robertson]

I've ordered some Partridge FlashPoint Ideal Nymph Barbless hooks from Lakeland which should have been here today
Hopefully this will resolve my BL Nymph hook requirements - but I've never seen one in the flesh yet.

The argument rages on regarding barbed, micro barbed and barbless hooks.

As I've stated before I'd prefer to and am aiming towards fishing barbless for all trout. Micro or debarbed (which often equates to the same thing in reality  ) is a good alternative & would be a step in the right direction towards fish appreciation.  That said, I'm as always the hypocrite & wouldn't consider barbless flies for Salmon (too scared of losing fish) which is a massive contradiction to my opinion that you don't lose any more fish than normal when fishing barbless.

Again it's each to their own - within the rules (and hopefully within the spirit of the game) but barbless is the side of the fence that I favour for Trout.

Iain

Fit like clarence
Intresting point and like you said if people were so keen on barbless hooks why do people insist they need big doubles and trebbles for salmon

[Iain Goolager]

Aye, Aye Bazroid,

As you make a valid observation regarding Salmon - I would be prepared to give it a go next season.
Does anyone know of any reason why this might be detremental to a Hook up to landing ratio when Salmon fishing?
I've seen, heard of and been on the receiving end of a fair few lost Salmon this year to both double and treble hooks which were barbed. Maybe it's just the nature of the fish. ???

Iain
 

[Iain Goolager]

Mike getting back to your point. I'd welcome the local supply of BL Nymph, wets hooks.

Iain

[Mike Barrio]

I think that one of the main reasons folk should consider using barbless hooks is that they are so much easier to get out when you hook yourself

I still get a good number of anglers coming in and asking if I'll help to take a hook out of their finger, or hand, or face and I'm afraid I just won't do it nowadays. I used to do my best to help ( I'm no surgeon ) but I remember very well being on the receiving end of verbal abuse from more than one customer because I had hurt them when I was only trying to help after being asked if I would ..... and I promised myself that this wasn't going to happen again.

I would think that about 50 to 80% of flies that I find in the boats are either fully barbed, or very badly de-barbed and this creates problems. Firstly to the next folk that use the boat if I haven't seen the fly when baling out the boat and they "find it" with their hand or whatever, especially with youngsters! Another one that really "rips my knitting" is the angler that loses a fish when the dropper gets caught in the anchor rope, they have difficulty getting the hook out of the rope because of the barb, or the poor de-barb, so they just leave it there for the next poor angler to find when they pull up the anchor rope with their hands

I haven't even mentioned looking after the health and the quality of the fish yet
Seriously folks ....... fish barbless

Best wishes
Mike

[Barry Robertson]

I think that one of the main reasons folk should consider using barbless hooks is that they are so much easier to get out when you hook yourself

I still get a good number of anglers coming in and asking if I'll help to take a hook out of their finger, or hand, or face and I'm afraid I just won't do it nowadays. I used to do my best to help ( I'm no surgeon ) but I remember very well being on the receiving end of verbal abuse from more than one customer because I had hurt them when I was only trying to help after being asked if I would ..... and I promised myself that this wasn't going to happen again.

I would think that about 50 to 80% of flies that I find in the boats are either fully barbed, or very badly de-barbed and this creates problems. Firstly to the next folk that use the boat if I haven't seen the fly when baling out the boat and they "find it" with their hand or whatever, especially with youngsters! Another one that really "rips my knitting" is the angler that loses a fish when the dropper gets caught in the anchor rope, they have difficulty getting the hook out of the rope because of the barb, or the poor de-barb, so they just leave it there for the next poor angler to find when they pull up the anchor rope with their hands

I haven't even mentioned looking after the health and the quality of the fish yet
Seriously folks ....... fish barbless
Best wishes
Mike

If barbless was so important surely thats all the shops would sell!
Again its preference and down to the individual and obviously your very against it Mike, but i can see where you are coming from!
Iam sure if you asked people who fish for a limit of 5 fish they would all mostly opt for barbed hooks! When each fish counts i think having a barb on makes a difference hence the no one de barbing salmon hooks.
 

[Mike Barrio]

Sorry Baz, we are drifting a bit from the original thread here .......

But I do get the impression that the shops sell plenty of barbless hooks to coarse anglers and I know for a fact that there is a reluctance by the big companies to produce barbless flies simply because they fear that British game fishers won't buy them and they would risk losing their current sales to their competitors. This reluctance, or fear, is due to this idea that you are going to lose most of your fish, which in my experience and my very humble opinion is simply not true.

I also realise that you have possibly become accustomed to the 5 fish limit type of fisheries that were the norm in the 80s and 90s ( and some still exist ) but these are simply not sustainable in today's environment. I would imagine that most folk would struggle to eat more than five trout of say 2 lb+ in a month without getting fed up with eating them quite quickly? I would also imagine that most anglers would like to go fishing more than once a month, so it simply doesn't make sense to have a 5 fish limit in one session.

Sorry ..... let's get back to hooks
Best wishes
Mike