who here crushes their barbs??

[Canalman]

Originally Posted by Clogston29

Once the larger fish show I generally crush the barbs on the rear trebles on plugs only (limits the damage that hook does if it gets a fish on the side of the head and or in my hand).

I like that idea... gonna give it a shot

[BigFish]

I don't!

[Canalman]

Originally Posted by BigFish

I don't!

don't what?

[fishaholic18]

Originally Posted by BigFish

I don't!

Yes you do..

[BigFish]

You know!

[denis]

Crush all barbs all the time easy on the fish and on me or my fishing partner,saved a trip to the hospital a couple of time.

["uffah!!"]

I generally use treble hooks and generally crush the barbs. I don't have hooks for different fish. So I generally crush them all. I know it makes it a lot easier to get them pesky Bloooooooofish off. Thats usually all I catch anyway.

[Nebe]

glad to hear so many folks are crushing them down..

i will sleep better tonight

[baldwin]

Take this advice, you won't be disappointed. Definitely crush down those barbs, but do it this way: using pliers, grasp the point end of the barb and crush it to the hook shank. Leave a bump in the barb at the proximal end (towards the shank). This will act as a partial barb, and usually keep the hook embedded. You are lessening the resistance of the barb to penetration into the fish's jaw, and the pinched hook will be easier to drive deeper into that jaw. The bump from the pinched barb will keep the hook there pretty sufficiently, and I don't feel that I've lost more fish by doing this.
Also, I like the fact that doing this makes it easier to release...me. Landing large bass, I've driven hooks into inconvenient places such as my thigh, and through the nail on my middle finger. Pinched barbs made it easier to avert an abrupt end to my fishing trip in each case. I have a fishing buddy who was landing a bluefish and had a hook (barb unaltered) driven into his hand. He now has no feeling in that part of his hand, and that happened a few years ago.
Pinching barbs shouldn't have a large effect on numbers of fish landed (if you do as instructed above, and keep pressure on the fish while fighting it), but even if you do lose a couple, it may save your body parts.

[spence]

Yes, ever have a schoolie nip the tail of a plug and get all 3 barbs in their little mouth?

-spence

[luds]

I crush them on all hooks smaller than 1/O because I use the plugs that have hooks that small for schoolies.