Plugs First Time

[thmyorke1]

Originally Posted by dakota560

Question on pinching the barbs on treb hooks. Do you pinch all three barbs down or just two? The concept as I understand it is if you don't pinch the barbs and you break off a fish and one hook is lodged in a lower jaw and one in the upper jaw, the fish won't be able to eat and will die. If you leave only one barb intact and pinch the other two that should never happen plus you'll have a better chance of landing that trophy fish once you hook it if you have the non-pinched barb in its jaw. If you break off, that single barbed hook will eventually rust or fall out and I would think would cause little harm if any to the fish. I've never pinched all three and in many cases have gone to a single hook for the same reason but curious what people's thoughts are on the subject.

Ive seen completely barbless treble hooks still get stuck in fish. Two and even all three hook points can lodge into the corner of the mouth awkwardly and be pretty difficult to remove.

I just pinch all three down; the point is to not worry about barbs at all, like if one gets caught inside me.