Along the lines of Smalma's comments, barbs don't have much relevance with fish as large as salmon. Barbless seems to matter more with trout fisheries where the smaller fish are subject to tissue damage and more handling stress when barbed hooks are removed. Handling of salmon is not increased that much by using barbed hooks. Where fish are hooked is usually of more importance than whether the hook is barbless or barbed.

My personal observation from using spinners with treble hooks a couple weeks ago at B-10 is that handling and handling time is significantly increased because fish can be hooked in two or three places with trebles. I think it would be better to restrict lures to single hooks than to require barbless hooks.

Sg