Michigan Muskie Alliance

does anyone use barbless or pinched barbs. I dont like to harm fish but hate to lose them. granted i always cut hooks if deeply imbeded or in vital areas. looking for thoughts and opinions

One of my buddies named Joe pinches the barbs down most of the way on his trebles and still lands the vast majority of the fish he hooks. It makes unhooking the fish a lot easier.

Eagle Claw used to make a very good barbless treble, style # L4174G, which was marketed by Bass Pro Shops as a Conservationist series hook maybe 4 to 6 years ago. It was only offered in sizes 2 through 8 as I remember. They are super and make hook extraction very simple compared to standard trebles. We use them at all times with freshwater drum, channel cats, smallmouth, etc. on Lake Macatawa. If they made these in muskie sizes I would convert all my baits over to them since they keep a sharp point and don't bend too much. But they are no longer in production.
VMC makes a barbless hook that has the barb basically filed down from a normal treble, but it doesn't hold the fish very well on the fight. The Eagle Claw has a "wave" in the hook between the point and the bend that keeps the fish on, yet it slips out of the fish easily when you remove it.
Ever since I was hooked by a treble trailer while unhooking a pike several years ago, I have pinched down the barbs on my muskie baits. My gut feeling is that you will lose about 10% of the fish hooked but if you get one in your wrist, you won't need to go to the hospital.

I've been turning down the barb on most stuff for many years (20-ish). With some hooks it actually seems to improve hooking and landing percentages. With really heavy baits it helps to at least leave a little bit of a barb. With baits like small to mid-size bucktails, small cranks and regular size Bulldawgs I pinch the barb down because these are baits that fish will inhale.