Is there anyone else that’s been flattening out the barb on their circle hooks for channels and sturgeon.
One crazy guy was doing this but stopped because the felt he was loosing fish because of it.
Now I can’t say that I’ve never lost a fish on a circle without a barb, but it doesn’t appear to be any more than I lost without the barb snapped off.
They are sooo much easier to take out by hand than yanking on them with a pliers.
Just wondering.
I care about the fish I catch as much as anyone. Still, I refuse to go barbless. I don’t care if the % of missed fish is negligible. I’d hate to lose a PB because of it.
I think it is safe to say 100% of the fish you miss with a barb would be lost with a barbless hook as well. I don’t think you can flip that statement.
I’m new to sturgeon and have only experimented with J hooks and circle hooks so far, no barbless so I don’t have anything to compare to. I’d be interested to hear more opinions because trying to pull their vacuum out and trying to get the circle hook out of their tongue can be quite tricky.
I will say that my hookup percentage was WAY higher with circles than with J hooks.
Personally, I don’t see that a barb will hurt the sturgeon or channel anymore than a barbless. Although using a pliers does at times draw a little more blood.
To me it’s more about the ease of taking the hook out.
Reach down grab the hook and it’s out.
Maybe I’m just lucky and don’t have that many missed fish.
I don’t see any of the above changing your opinion Pug which is valid for sure.
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I will say that my hookup percentage was WAY higher with circles than with J hooks.
Circles were made for channels and sturgeon! (well, you know what I mean)
I think only the staunchest J hook supporter would argue that point. 
BrianK
You’re in Lakeland. Are there any bait shops near you that would be on the way to Bayport? Blue Ribbon is kind of on the way and I don’t mind going 20 min out of my way to get bait and stuff, but it sure would be nice if we could do it on the way.
I’ve been breaking off or filing down barbs on ALL my hooks for a long time because it’s so much easier to unhook the fish. Also you don’t have to poke as big of a hole in the fishes jaw if the barb is gone since the hook is smaller in diameter without the barb. I’ve been operating under the assumption that as long as you maintain tension on the line, the hook can’t “fall out”. I really haven’t noticed any more lost Bass or Panfish since I started doing this. Is it maybe different with Cats and Sturgeon?
Rootski
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Are there any bait shops near you that would be on the way to Bayport?
The gas station at the corner where you would turn to head towards the river had minnow and crawlers. No suckers.
But getting this late in the year, it’s a crap shoot.
I haven’t fished up this way for a few year. Maybe there’s some place else that I’m not aware of.
Root, I feel the same way, but with a circle hook, it’s really hard to have a hook back out. By looking at a circle a person wonders how we can even hook a fish much less lose one after it’s on the hook. 
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By looking at a circle a person wonders how we can even hook a fish much less lose one after it’s on the hook.
Maybe it’s better to not think about it
I think your right again Root! 
This ones a little thicker than what I use, but you get a flavor of what I’m talking about.
You can pry my barbed trebles out of my cold dead hands. 3/4 of the fun of fishing here is setting hook into a fish that you can’t budge. I’ve tried circles here a few times and hook up ratio went down to less than half from 9 of 10.
Kev, did you have them coming out of the bottom of the tubes?
By hooking the tube with stink horizontally on a vertical hook, I’ve have very good hook ups.
But then, I don’t fish them as much as you either.
For me, the barb is for keeping bait on, not fish. PITA keeping live or cut bait on barbless. It’s bad enough I have to jump through flaming death hoops for good bait, just to have it wasted.
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By looking at a circle a person wonders how we can even hook a fish…
Tell that to my finger, which has been numb for the past month and a half due to a circle hook incident. 
Sorry to hear that Ryan! 
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I don’t see any of the above changing your opinion Pug which is valid for sure.
I wouldn’t say that. For me, it is almost as important to get the fish back in the water as fast and with the least amount of stress and damage as possible. My post was sort of knee-jerk, probably more jerk than knee.
I think where a circle normally ends up and its shape probably almost negates the need for a barb. Even with slack line, the hook isn’t just going to fall out.
Rootski, you have no problems using circles for panfish? I have had so many that still get gullet hooked even using circles and setting the hook quick, that I am going away from using them for smaller fish. Also, 2 weekends ago I fished with Bob Moore and could not catch a fish until I went with the “normal” hooks he was using. The fish were pretty small. My theory on that is that when fishing smaller fish there is not much resistance, so the hook doesn’t embed and work its way in. But it works good with big fish because when you load the rod or sweep, they provide the resistance needed.
BK, don’t laugh at other people’s pain.
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Pug…I should have spelled that out better….
What I was saying is that I bend down or file off the barbs on the hooks I use. For me that’s mainly on flies I tie and that’s always J hooks. I haven’t used a circle hook on anything except Sturgeon so far.
So on the hooks I use (not necessarily cicle hooks) I don’t see the barbs helping me land fish any better.
Rootski
Yeah there is explaining and then there is explaining to me. My eyes are faster than my brain and I usually skim over the details that spell things out.
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Personally, I don’t see that a barb will hurt the sturgeon or channel anymore than a barbless. Although using a pliers does at times draw a little more blood.
Yeah but I thought we were worried about the fish, not about your fingers…
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Yeah there is explaining and then there is explaining to me. My eyes are faster than my brain and I usually skim over the details that spell things out.
Yeah, Bob, I have the same problem with losing track of details when I skim over things. 
Oh, and I have tried pinching my barbs against the hook shank, but I was losing so much bait that I gave up on the idea. And that was with crawlers and cut. I can’t imagine this working with live at all.
Don’t hate me for it, but I use hooks just as they come out of the Gamu packaging (most oftenly J hooks). Partly for the same reason dtro mentioned, and partly because I’ve already tricked this fish into taking my bait and I’ve timed the hook set/sweep perfectly. Now to my point…. We’ve all had sturgeon wrap (sometimes a half dozen times) around our anchor rope(s). Think a crimped barb would have affected anything there? Considering only monster fish get into the anchor, I’m not willing to take the chance. Another thing is the sprint to the surface. Some fish come so fast, there’s no way your keeping up with them. To shake the hook on the surface would be self implied kick in the nuts.
Don’t hammer me for putting a slightly bigger hole in the mouth, but that’s just my opinion. When I do get the fish to hand, I give it the respect of safe’n’quick handling and re-entry into the water.
No hammering going on here. Just wondering if anyone else has tried or is using it.
I had this astute fella with me one time. He lost three fish and blames it on no barb even though there wasn’t any slack in the line while reeling in the fish. (I’m going to get a nasty pm for that. )
Hey Armchair, I wouldn’t use a circle for live bait either. Just dead bait and for sturgeon and channels.
BTW….try wiggling your finger in a sink of water. They don’t come out.
Ok..the photo was a fake. Just trying to lighten you guys up a little.
Circle hook barbs are very small and to me the only purpose they serve is to keep bait on the hook. We have to fish barbless in Canada and bait is tough to keep on at times. Circle hooks are very easy to remove if you just wind them off. I think they are excellent in preventing damage to large fish and that is why I am in the boat.
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