I started going to single barbless on my salmon plugs reluctantly this year. After a fall season where we had something like 50 hookups, I found that we hooked just as many, if not more of the strikes, and lost no fish. That's right, no fish lost after the initial hookup.

I have used barbless hooks for flies for years. It is my belief that if the angler is at all skilled in fighting fish, there is very little loss if fish due to barbless use.

So we could convert over the use of barbless hooks tomorrow without complaint from me. Well, maybe a little complaint, as I change over the rest of the dozens of plugs I own.