might as well do away with livebait if you go barbless. Im all ears if someone has an easy way
You could just use artificials instead. Technically it would eliminate having to constantly buy expensive leeches and shiners. I mostly use artificial lures, although the hooks do still have barbs lol
Absolutely have no desire or intention to use barbless. Can barely keep my leeches on with barbs, might as well do away with livebait if you go barbless. Im all ears if someone has an easy way to keep leeches and shiners on without barbs… Using Canada anecdotes as evidence is apples and oranges to the Midwest.
Here ya go
Here ya go
Bait pegs? That’s a new one to me.
Always heard them called ‘Bait Buttons’ in Manitoba – really popular on LW but I never used them personally.
They did a study in Mille lacs and were leaning toward a barbless regulation until the study showed it didn’t have any positive affect on hooking mortality.
Food for thought, the reason quetico has a barbless rule is not for the sake of the fish— it’s to decrease the calls for emergency medical services and extractions due to anglers burying trebles in their own skin while miles out in the wilderness.
Food for thought, the reason quetico has a barbless rule is not for the sake of the fish— it’s to decrease the calls for emergency medical services and extractions due to anglers burying trebles in their own skin while miles out in the wilderness.
Never heard that before. Makes good sense.
I don’t think it’d make a huge difference to me one way or another…but if the reasoning behind it is hooking mortality, the thinking may be flawed.
The majority of “released fish” that I’ve seen die in my outings are from people fishing scour holes, people having no idea how to handle a fish (fighting it inside the boat on the floor for 45 seconds before them grabbing it by the gills for a picture, dropping it once more, then tossing it over the side)
Barbless or not Barbless. It doesn’t matter to me. I fish barbless where required and fish those same lures barbless where not required. I don’t see it as much of a advantage in single hook lures. But do see the advantage in Multiple treble hook lures. That’s a lot of hooks to fight getting out of a fish. That extra time on big fish in warmer weather is a big factor I believe in helping a fishes chance to survive to fight again – That’s just my .02 worth.
@bigfatcroixbaby
The article was originally published in the North American Journal of Fisheries Management, Volume 31. It’s not specific to ML as I had thought — I probably recalled incorrectly, and perhaps I’m remembering that this study was cited by the DNR when they made the decision to not enact the barbless regulation for ML.
The summary quote: “This study illustrates how gear type can affect hooking mortality based on the amount of damage caused when the fish is caught and adds to the body of literature indicating that the removal of barbs from hooks does not increase fish survival.”
Sorry, should’ve been more specific…I was wondering about the Quetico part of your statement. Never heard that one before.
Gotcha. I have no linkable source on that one. Word of mouth from a friend who spoke with a ranger in the Q. But I would think they would be well aware of studies from neighboring areas like MN.
I did find this from the Boundary Waters Journal in 2007 when the barbless ban for Quetico was being enacted.
“Reilly (Quetico ranger) is aware most studies show little significant difference in mortality rates between fish caught/released with barbed vs. barbless hooks, but he believes in actual practice a worthwhile benefit for going barbless can still be found. That is because over one third of all Quetico visitors are youth groups of novice anglers who dabble in casual attempts to catch a fish dinner.”
and
“Reilly gets satellite phone calls from groups with some kid impaled by a hook on a remote interior lake requesting an aircraft evacuation. Of course, this brings disruption to other nearby campers. Barbless hooks will be easier to backout of humans, making such evacuations less necessary. This is a secondary benefit to banning barbed hooks.”
So at the time they called it a “secondary benefit” while admitting that the research did not support their logic for the “primary benefit,” which was to reduce hooking mortality. A guy can read between the lines to infer that reducing costly air evacuations has actually been the most significant effect of this ban, and another ranger said as much to my friend in conversation.
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