Wes, Everybody.. Thanks for the tips and info.. Makes sense.. I have
actually been fishing barbless and didn't realize it till now... The hot
pink fly I "invented" and the Chili Pepper and the two flies I have been
fishing almost exclusively since the water turned cool. Well both those
require a bead head, and to get the beads on I have to "mash" the barb
flat.... And i haven't lost any more fish than with beadless barbed hooks...
I know that feeling of getting a hook out of somebody's finger too. Back
when i was a welder My hands were sooooo callused, you could NOT stick a
hook in them.. And I fished a lot with my best friend who was also a welder
and had hands tougher than mine.... Well, we were in a FL river swamp, and I
hooked into (we were using Rebel bass lures back then about 6 in long ones
with two sets of barbed treble hooks)... a BIG bass. Well we forgot the net,
so Jim went to grab the fish my the mouth when i got it close to the boat...
He grabbed, but at that same time one of those hooks (which had three #1
RUSTY hooks on each treble).. Pierced his thumb... We had one rusty pocket
knife, and a pair of needle nosed pliers, and that hook HAD to come out..
Man, Jim was in major pain.. Well, It went through all seven layers of skin,
and I first tried to push the hook on through with the pliers. It would NOT
budge)... Then I tried to cut the hook's shank, Nothing.. Then Jim said "cut
the skin open...With that tough skin and rusty knife nothing doing... I
FINALLY, after he was white as a ghost and about to go into shock, pushed
the hook shank through and cut the barbed end off, and slid the lure back
out....He had to get a tetanus shot, stitches, and had a sore thumb for a
month... And I don't know who hurt worse.. Me trying NOT to kill my best
friend with pain, or Him nearly passing out from the pain... Anyway, we
packed a first aid kit, GOOD pliers, and bought NEW lures without rusty
hooks...That brackish water is bad on hooks... Anyway, Bottom line.. I think
I'll start debarbing them all.... Cause I can see his face, and thumb in my
memory right now, and don't want that to happen again to ANYBODY, SPECIALLY
ME LOLOL, Chuck
----- Original Message -----
From: "Wes Wada" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, December 23, 2005 3:10 PM
Subject: Re: [VFB] Barbless Hooks
Hi Chuck,
Add me to the list of folks who always fish with barbless hooks.
Never have felt that I was at a disavantage that way as opposed to
using barbs.
Two additional advantages of barbless: it is easier to drive a hook
point home while barbless because the cross section of the hole
required is less with a barbless hook.
Also, I never want to deal with a barbed hook embedded in somebody's
finger (like my wife had long ago) or in my own ear (as I saw in a
Brian O'Keefe slide presentation recently). Guy had this big
saltwater fly hooked into his ear lobe like an earring, barb and all.
That would put a damper on your day on the water!
Wes Wada
Bend, Oregon
