Barra barbless?

[heath7162]

I'm heading up north in the next few weeks to try my luck for a barra in the Hinchinbrook area and have been busy buying some lures and upgrading some old ones. My question is whether I should flatten the barbs on the lures or not. I'm leaning towards flattening them as I don't fancy a trip to the hospital to have one removed but does it greatly affect converting hookups into fish in the net?

Cheers.

[ifishcq1]

Yes, flatten the barbs and do yourself and you partners a big favour
they still catch the same amount of fish but hurt way less getting them out of your hand, back, leg or head and like you said it can save a trip to the hospital
you land average 7 or 8 out of ten on a hot session with or without barbs
anyone that thinks differently probably hasn't caught enough barras to get a real comparison

cheers

[Scott nthQld]

yes, deifintely flatteny our barbs if fishing with a couple of people on one boat.

Will you lose more fish....well, yes, but not enough to notice a difference, instead of the 8 out of 10 you might get with barbs, you might boat 7 out of 10 without but you can better your odds by trying to keep the barra in the water, rather then the high flying spectacle we all love. Intsead of fighting the fish with your rod pointing to the sky, try and do it with your rod out to the side, they will be less inclined to jump that way as they won't have the force pulling them up.

[scuttlebutt]

Hinchinbrook can be tough without local knowledge.

As for barbs, personally I don't remove them but I can see the argument for it.

[sleepygreg]

I never fish remote areas with barbed hooks on lures. And flattening the barb actually increases the penetration rate of the hook. My theory is the hook up rates increases to negate the lost fish.....so it all even itself out....plus they are MUCH easier to release (this is actually where a large number of 'hooks in fingers/hands/legs' occurs - trying to release fiesty fish).

Greg