The Many Benefits of Barbless Hooks
Kasba Lake Lodge is the original fishing lodge introducing Catch and Release fishing in 1973. It was a way to sustain the amazing fishing experience offered at our trophy fishing resort. We wanted our guests to all experience the unspoiled lake the same way we did when we first fished here. We know how keeping all the fish you catch can affect the quality of fishing, so we wanted to ensure Kasba remained as pristine as the day we landed.
The foundation of Catch and Release fishing is the use of barbless hooks. Barbless hooks have many benefits of which the greatest is the lower mortality rate of fish. Barbless hooks are easier to extract from fish which reduces the amount of injury to the fish and allows the fish to be returned to the water quicker. A fish caught with a barbed hook has a much higher mortality rate. At our Catch and Release fishing resort using barbless hooks is of the utmost importance so we make it mandatory.
As well as being safer for the fish, barbless hooks are also safer for you. It’s very common to accidentally hook yourself, your boat mates or your best furry friend who happened to go fishing with you. If you accidentally hook yourself or someone else, barbless hooks are much easier to remove from your body. More than a few fishing trips have been interrupted with an unforeseen visit to the emergency room due to a displaced barbed hook.
Because it’s easier to lose a hooked fish, barbless hooks are more challenging to fish with. This is attractive for some seasoned fisherman who want to test their skills. Now will your overall fishing catch rates decline? Not necessarily because barbless hooks slip out quicker than barbed hooks thereby allowing you make more casts during a day and catch even more fish. In addition, barbless hooks penetrate the fish more easily with less resistance than barbed hooks which usually leads to more catches as well.
Maybe you have been using barbed hooks because you didn’t realize barbless hooks were readily available. That is quite a common reason. However, barbless hooks can be easily found at many fishing retailers. So next time grab some and try the epic catch and release fishing at Kasba Lake Lodge.
