If this rules goes through, I think everything should go barbless.

It makes it much easier to release the fish in the water using a hook release tool.

I just dont see how people are gonna take a barbed hook out with a fish dangling at the end of it with tension on the line. Especially out of a boat.

When I fished the Karluk we used hook release tools exclusively, (the Teeny type). Most of the time you had to release the fish out in the current as there was no banks. From my experience there I dont see how you could use barbed hooks and be able to release fish in the water without causing alot of stress.

If everybody just cuttt them off that work too. The guys I fish with and I do that alot from the boat as it is alot quicker and less painless for the fish.

Rich, Good point, when you write in your written testiomony add that language to the proposal. What cracks me up about the "gnashing of teeth" over this proposal is the same reaction I heard years ago when they introduced barbless hooks for salmon in saltwater.

Remember all written proposal are due by Dec. 5, but also remember there are some other equally important proposals in the pamphlet aside from this that can benefit wild fish and still provide opportunity.

Maybe people fishing areas where wild salmon and steelhead are required they should already be using barbless hooks by their own choice so that laws aren't required to make them act in a responsible manner.

i don't mind using barbless hooks much, i just think the proposal to require them in ALL water was stupid. i'm happy it got shot down, it'd be a pain for me in lakes, fishing for those bait stealing perch and catfish

don't mind using them one bit in rivers, though

I totally agree with the releasing stick tool as a great means of releasing fish unharmed. Barbless hooks should just be a no-brainer. DUH? They aren't that bad to use. They actually penetrate faster than a barbed hook.

Last 5 years I have fished the Smith river, CA winter run, barbless hooks are required. I never lost a fish because of the hook, operator error yes, hook no. Taking a fish out of the water whether it is with a net or hand is hard on the fish. "Like a fish out of water" is not just phrase.

IB