Great trick for fighting a big fish down stream

[caddisflyer]

That's an interesting read, I stand corrected, however I am still going to use barbless hooks. I don't buy the over penetration caused by barbless hook being harmful as the hooks I use are too small to puncture vital parts of the fish. Buy yes, a barbless hook would inherently penetrate more.

I think the more important aspect is the skill of the angler unhooking the fish. Knowing a fish's inherent out-of-water exposure time and general "durability" is vital to ensuring each fish gets a safe release.

Also, the idea of a native brook taking all three points of a treble hurt me in ways I didn't think it could.

I tie most of my flies from a stock of hooks that dates back to the late 1970s . I have some barbless and many not. I tend to use whatever I have around. Lately I am buying some hooks that have a microbarb. Most of my fishing is done with 14 and down. I have even hooked myself a few times and they pop right out. I don't fish for small Brook Trout so I am no worry there. (My focus is on invasives). I use treble hooks mainly spin fishing for bass and they pop right out. I've caught trout on treble hooks many times in past and same deal. I agree that the skill of fisherman and having right tools-net, hemostats and pliers etc. make most of the difference.

 

[Jay_H]

There’s a great listen on netting fish and some of this was discussed on the latest Orvis podcast.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-orvis-fly-fishing-podcast/id278930814?i=1000592902506