Single Hook Only - above Fall Creek

[tjm]

@netboyThat is primarily why I mash barbs, or buy barbless, they come out of me so much easier. It can make releasing fish easier too, but I don't think it helps with mortality and I don't think  it should be a regulation.

[Travis Swift]

The fish in Taney are in the best shape they have been in for decades.  The quality is unreal.  I recently caught a big brown on a jerkbait, took great care of it and released it and it was caught again 2 weeks later.  In fact if you watch the taneycomo facebook pages you will see the same fish being caught alot and plenty of those are on treble hooked baits.  Enforce current rules and leave the rest of us alone.  

[tjm]

Doesn't matter what the regs are,  you can't be serious about enforcing them? It's an honor system, always has been. Total enforcement would probably require equal numbers of anglers and officers; think of the cost. Be good for the economy though, to employ that many new Agents.

 

[Ryan Miloshewski]

1 hour ago, Tom C said:

Just wondering who is doing "the discussions"?  Any reference from the MDC they may change the rules?  I couldn't find any notice on the MDC site for Wildlife Code-Proposed Regulation Change, nor in the Missouri Register.  

Thanks!

There are none as of April when I talked to Shane Bush, the MDC biologist for an article on Taneycomo. It's just a select group of fishermen who've been complaining for a few years. Guess that could have changed, but I doubt it. 

[netboy]

I think barbless hooks help to make an easier release for the fish. Quite often my barbless flies come out when the fish is flopping in the net and the pressure is taken off the fish. No need to even touch the fish in those cases, just let it swim out.   

[tjm]

Yes I can often release trout by simply slacking the line as they get into shallow water and renew the fight. And when they don't self release a slight push with the release tool does the trick. I rarely carry a net, unless I'm keeping fish.

However that still is not science to support a barbless regulation.

[netboy]

1 hour ago, tjm said:

 

However that still is not science to support a barbless regulation.

You and I catch and release a bunch of trout so it sort of sounds like it to me.

[snagged in outlet 3]

35 minutes ago, netboy said:

You and I catch and release a bunch of trout so it sort of sounds like it to me.

Count me in the barbless camp too.   I don’t think barbs make any difference in keeping fish hooked up.  Easier on the fish and fisherman.  

[ColdWaterFshr]

I support barbless above fall creek and also no trebles.  You can't tell me trebles don't harm fish, I've harmed many just wrestling big fish in a net with a triple-treble jerk bait.   They're hooked in at least 4 places by the time you get the hemo's or pliers to them.  Compared to a single point fly?? C'mon.

[tjm]

The thread does not say barbless above fall creek and it does not say " single point" the thread starter said "single hook only". Under that heading all the hooks could be fully barbed  trebles as long as only one  hook is used. He isn't presenting any evidence that using a single hook would have any benefit over using three hooks as pole line fishing allows state wide. Kinda an emotional appeal thing to ban fishing there.

And we know that they are not enforcing current regulations so any added regulations would just amount to a BS line on a sign that no one reads.

Studies have shown that in controlled tests neither barbs nor trebles add significantly to the overall mortality rate.  We should not  make regulations based on emotions, nor on anecdotal evidence found in bull chip fish stories. 

If you want to say trebles hurt the fish, then you must also admit that any hook hurts the fish and we should regulate for no hooks to be used. Maybe someone will write a petition for all lures used above Fall Creek to  be hookless? They could quote the studies showing that barbless hooks have essentially the same mortality that barbed hooks do and then quote all the anti barb anglers to show that even anglers think hooks should be banned. same thing with single-point hooks and multi-point hooks, if you oppose one; by inference you are opposing the other, based on the science. My argument is that none of the hooks causes significant harm to any of the fish. You can claim that trebles   hurt anglers or that barbed hooks are harder to remove from children and I'll agree, but I won't agree that we need to ban hooks.