Buying Hooks:  Barbed  vs  Barbless

I seldom carry barbless hooks  for a couple of reasons.

 First,  the barbless ones cost a couple more dollars a box, so for every 500, you are paying for almost an extra hundred.   Really good hooks have gotten quite expensive.

 Second,  they don’t have barbless in every model,   only about  2 models,    so  why have them just in  one or two styles?

 Third,  the little  “hump”  that is left after mashing the barb is tiny,   but may actually keep a fish on if it runs toward you shaking its head.

 Fourth,    it does not take but a  couple or three seconds to mash them down with a pair of  flat nosed  mini-pliers………… I keep two pairs on my desk.

 Another point,  on hooks with high quality tempered steel like Daiichi,    the barbs mash down easily,  don’t break off,  and don’t leave  a  terribly large, jagged “hump” after mashing.  Some of the cheaper brands  do either break off,  leave a  large hump,  or  the entire hook breaks off at the barb due to the stress of  mashing with pliers.

 To sum it up,   very few people ever ask for  barbless and seem content to  mash their own down on the higher quality hooks.