PP - you're lucky if it only hooks your pants! Ouch. I knew a guy one time who was flyfishing with his Dad as a kid. Dad had always told him to let him know when he wanted to move and to stay away from his backcast. Well, the kid doesn't listen, walks in the path of dad's backcast and gets hooked clean through right underneath his chin. He was very glad that Dad always used barbless hooks and his nickname from thereon was . . . you guessed it, Minnow.

I haven't found any difference in the use of barbless vs. barbed hooks. I think the aggressiveness of the fish bite (do they slam it or just nibble?) and the skill of the rod operator are the most determining factor of landing vs. losing a fish.