4S,

You're right about the barb vs. not-barbed mortality. I think you and I have talked about this one before at a TU meeting, haven't we?

With the exception of a spinner, I haven't found any less success with barbless hooks so far as hooking and keeping them on. If anything, whatever reduction in success that no barb brings is probably more than made up for by fish being hooked more easily due to the lack of barb...

Here's another one that I didn't make very clear in my first post; hatchery fish spawning unquestionably hurts native fish, and catching native smolts on bait hurts native fish. In a particular river, which is worse? If it's hatchery fish spawning, and bait increases the success rate (definitely does for winter run hatchery fish), is it more important to catch the adults or not catch the smolts? I'd like to see information on questions like that, since most things have effects beyond the immediate intended ones.

Fish on...

Todd.