Haven't tried this yet but will on my next trip on Texoma! Anyone bend down the barbs on their hooks while fishing for stripers? I have caught a lot of small stripers this year and really wonder about the survival rate due to injuries.

Here's my

I have only seen one problem with smashing the barbs. The fish actually has a chance of getting hooked deeper if the barbs do not "engage". If there is a delay in setting the hook or if there is any slack in the line after hook-up, there is that chance.

I CPR almost every fish I catch. I leave the barbs alone, but, normally cut one of the three off entirely.

In studies on salmonids fishing with barbless hooks was shown to decrease mortality.

Get the best hooks you can buy (Gamakatsu). There's no shortage of stripers at Texoma. TPWD did not allow a no lenght 10 10 fish limit because things were bad. The do only allow 2 over 20 inches.

Also, you would not see the guides with fish cleaning stations full of stripers if they thought that fishery was in trouble. Try going to Arkansas and fishing one of the streams up there with a guide and try to keep a smallmouth. They will shut that down quickly as those big fish are rare and difficult to replace. If the guides are keeping fish it's not an issue.

The problem at Texoma if you read the TPWD white page reports is over population of Stripers. Texoma is an "odd duck lake" where stripers reproduce extremely well. You can literally catch hundreds of 6-12 inch stripers in the spring in coves off Eisenhower.

I alway push the barbs down. If you keep pressure on the fish, you will land it. You can also use single hooks too! No treble hooks on most lakes and rivers in OR. Same with barb-less.

I honestly don't think barbs on a circle hook do anything anyways. But a j style hook they do serve a purpose.

Barbless hooks on lures is never a problem..when fishing live bait it does pose some issues keeping shad on...shad will easily work their wa off barbless hooks...I've tried them many times with bait and always get frustrated with baits coming off way too easily

Never thought of that JD......Guess I'm not a MasterBaiter

JD I think he just called you something

Ya well �TU ...everyone's gotta be good at something

And he learned it all by himself.