I am occasionally reminded that pinching the barb is good safety practice. I usually pinch the barb. I carry a small pair of needle nose pliers in my vest for that purpose.

For some reason, laziness most likely, I stopped doing that several months back. Maybe it was the winter hiatus that got me out of the habit. Pinching barbs are again a priority for me as I recently had my fly bounce off my sunglasses while casting in a heavy wind. Had I gotten that hook in my eye, a barbless hook would have been a blessing. That I could have removed myself on the spot. I would still have needed to get to an emergency room of course, but just imagine the difference in wading a mile up river and the thirty minute trip to the emergency room with and without a hook still in my eye.

Of course I am far more likely to get a hook in my thumb or arm or neck. Still, I would rather have a barbless hook in me regardless of the location. There are other good reasons to defang those hooks too.

I originally started pinching the barbs after reading a few articles that proclaimed more fish are caught without barbs than with. The theory goes that a barbless hook goes into the fish's flesh easier, making for more hookups. Perhaps more hooks are thrown without barbs, but perhaps not. Barbless hooks are also easier to remove from the fish, and do less damage to the fish. The less damage to the fish and more hookups were the selling points for me back then. After pinching them I did not notice a significant increase in hookups, or premature releases. But, those kind of things are hard to quantify in the real world of infinite variables.

The selling point for me now is the memory of that split second that the fly was snapping hard against my sunglasses. The selling point is imagining having not worn sunglasses and gotten that hook into my eye - certainly a barbless hook would have been far preferrable to the barbed hook I was actually using.

So, once again, I am reminded of what I should have not forgotten, and the reminder will cause me to be just that much safer in the future - and the fish will have that much less damage done to them too.

You said it!!!!!

Agree.

I crush as well

Yes, much easier and faster to remove the hook from the fish, not to mention from your own flesh. By keeping pressure on the fish with a bend in the rod, I rarely lose a fish on a barbless hook.

I agree whole heartedly. I don't always consider my own safety when it comes to pinching the barb, but recently I gill-hooked a couple bass. I hate the feeling of trying to dig the hook out of a poor fish while the barb is tearing it apart. That's why I'll always pinch the barb!

You'll catch, and land, more fish with barbless flies... as they penetrate easier and it's easier to stick ya' with a needle, than a wedge.

You won't destroy your fly retrieving it from the mouth of the fish, and you are less likely to kill the fish wrangling that fly from deep in the fish's throat...

De-barb your flies at the tying bench...

To de-barb hooks of all sizes, use non-serrated, narrow jawed, pliers, such as Xuron FF-1 pliers. Doing so will allow you to de-barb with precision and less hook breakage

I agree as well

I have just started fly fishing and have tried to make pinching the barb a practice.

Some day when you pull a hook out of yourself as easy as pie, you'll be glad you started that practice!

Total agreement here. Knowing I have a barbless hook heightens my focus.

A barb is only on a hook to keep bait on it when casting.
Therefore, a fly should never need to have a barb.
All of the reasons given above make barbless a no brainer.

In my experience the hooks find their way into fabric more often than flesh. A barbless hook really pays off when you don't want to rip up your PFD, or your breathable jacket.

With the give and bend In a fly rod very few times will they get enough slack to throw the hook. Not like fishing conventional with a broomstick jig rod that is very stiff. Barbless hooks are extra convenient during the Sandbass run when you're catching a fish every cast! About the only time I have a barb is night fishing strictly for big fish in the dark and when fishing for bass that tend to come unglued when hooked lol.