JimKennedy
Active member
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2016
- Messages
- 253
Back in the day, most special regulation areas on Pennsylvania trout streams were fly-only, and often fly-only with “traditional fly tackle.” Barbless hooks also were sometimes required. When that changed however many years ago, I was quite irritated. In those days, as now, I fished mainly flies (often barbless) and when I fished spinners and lures, it was always single hook. The change to allow only artificial lures on my favorite “fly streams” was something I figured would result in belly-up fish all over the place.
Then I started asking biologists about it. They said there’s plenty of research on the effects of hook type on fish mortality in general and trout mortality in particular (as trout are rather delicate compared to bass). The research says little or no difference in mortality based on hook type.
The research has continued, but the results are the same: there’s no discernable mortality difference between treble and single or between barbed and barbless. Whether a trout survives after being caught has everything to do with careful handling and quick release.
There’s even one study, “Hooking and Handling Mortality of Trout Captured in the Bald Eagle Creek Trout Tournament, Pennsylvania,” found that, “Trout that had hooks left embedded in them or had blood in their holding container had the highest mortality.” It went so far as to suggest that use of bait had very little impact on whether a trout survives.
I’ll add here that a trout caught on bait is a lot more likely to have a “hook left embedded” than one caught on an artificial lure, so the study’s statement relative to bait seems to relate to trout that are lip hooked by a nightcrawler angler, even as you're more likely to gut hook a trout when using the old garden hackle.
Anyway, the full article, from the North American Journal of Fisheries Management, is behind a pay wall, but you can read the abstract (the summary part with the least scientific jargon) at link:
https://afspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/nafm.10666
Another scientific paper from 1995 is a comparison of past fish hook mortality studies and was assembled by two members of the Colorado Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit. It summarizes the findings of seven previous research papers by saying: “Very little evidence has been found to support any particular hook type to reduce catch and release mortality. No consistent patterns can be found in past studies that favor one hook type over another.” It goes on to conclude that angler expertise does make a big difference: “When artificial flies and lures are used, angler skill and capture conditions have greater effects than hook type on post-release mortality in most situations.” In other words, fly anglers are generally more expert not only at fishing, but also at carefully handling the fish. I’ve uploaded a pdf of this paper, Colorado summary 1995.pdf
Another attached pdf is for the 2004 study, “Effect of Hook Type on Mortality, Trauma, and Capture Efficiency of Wild Stream Trout Caught by Angling with Spinners,” also from the North American Journal of Fisheries Management, reports: “Our results do not indicate a biological advantage with the use of single- or barbless-hook spinners when caught wild stream trout will be released.” It’s uploaded as Effect of Hook Type on Mortality.pdf and inexplicably is not behind a pay wall
Another paper, “Influence of artificial lure hook type on hooking characteristics, handling, and injury of angled freshwater gamefish,” published in 2021 in the Elsevier journal Fisheries Research, recommends using barbless single hooks, but says there’s no research to support that it improves a fish’s chance of survival: “Hook type and lure type did not influence reflex impairment or survival for any of the species. Using J hooks, especially barbless ones, on lures that traditionally have treble hooks should be considered when encouraging best angling practices for the freshwater gamefish studied here to expedite release, although the extent to which this influences mortality remains unclear.”
There are two tables at the end of the Colorado summary that give the full data set for all seven studies it summarizes, and that information by itself is very telling about the differences among barbed, single, barbless and treble:
I’m not trying to be obtuse here, but I did want to defend my catch and release bona fides and possibly provide a little useful information to the group and a topic for further discussion.
Then I started asking biologists about it. They said there’s plenty of research on the effects of hook type on fish mortality in general and trout mortality in particular (as trout are rather delicate compared to bass). The research says little or no difference in mortality based on hook type.
The research has continued, but the results are the same: there’s no discernable mortality difference between treble and single or between barbed and barbless. Whether a trout survives after being caught has everything to do with careful handling and quick release.
There’s even one study, “Hooking and Handling Mortality of Trout Captured in the Bald Eagle Creek Trout Tournament, Pennsylvania,” found that, “Trout that had hooks left embedded in them or had blood in their holding container had the highest mortality.” It went so far as to suggest that use of bait had very little impact on whether a trout survives.
I’ll add here that a trout caught on bait is a lot more likely to have a “hook left embedded” than one caught on an artificial lure, so the study’s statement relative to bait seems to relate to trout that are lip hooked by a nightcrawler angler, even as you're more likely to gut hook a trout when using the old garden hackle.
Anyway, the full article, from the North American Journal of Fisheries Management, is behind a pay wall, but you can read the abstract (the summary part with the least scientific jargon) at link:
https://afspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/nafm.10666
Another scientific paper from 1995 is a comparison of past fish hook mortality studies and was assembled by two members of the Colorado Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit. It summarizes the findings of seven previous research papers by saying: “Very little evidence has been found to support any particular hook type to reduce catch and release mortality. No consistent patterns can be found in past studies that favor one hook type over another.” It goes on to conclude that angler expertise does make a big difference: “When artificial flies and lures are used, angler skill and capture conditions have greater effects than hook type on post-release mortality in most situations.” In other words, fly anglers are generally more expert not only at fishing, but also at carefully handling the fish. I’ve uploaded a pdf of this paper, Colorado summary 1995.pdf
Another attached pdf is for the 2004 study, “Effect of Hook Type on Mortality, Trauma, and Capture Efficiency of Wild Stream Trout Caught by Angling with Spinners,” also from the North American Journal of Fisheries Management, reports: “Our results do not indicate a biological advantage with the use of single- or barbless-hook spinners when caught wild stream trout will be released.” It’s uploaded as Effect of Hook Type on Mortality.pdf and inexplicably is not behind a pay wall
Another paper, “Influence of artificial lure hook type on hooking characteristics, handling, and injury of angled freshwater gamefish,” published in 2021 in the Elsevier journal Fisheries Research, recommends using barbless single hooks, but says there’s no research to support that it improves a fish’s chance of survival: “Hook type and lure type did not influence reflex impairment or survival for any of the species. Using J hooks, especially barbless ones, on lures that traditionally have treble hooks should be considered when encouraging best angling practices for the freshwater gamefish studied here to expedite release, although the extent to which this influences mortality remains unclear.”
There are two tables at the end of the Colorado summary that give the full data set for all seven studies it summarizes, and that information by itself is very telling about the differences among barbed, single, barbless and treble:
I’m not trying to be obtuse here, but I did want to defend my catch and release bona fides and possibly provide a little useful information to the group and a topic for further discussion.
