Tuna Hooks?

[FinFansea]

I purchased what I thought are the correct hooks based on previous threads. They are Mustad size 21, 78923’s; after I got home I realized they are kinked not barbed. Obviously I got the numbers mixed. Should I exchange these for barbed hooks? Any thoughts on just using single 10/0 or 12/0 hooks instead of doubles?


I understand later in the season smaller baits are often more effective. Do you also down size the hook?


Thanks!

[Mark Mc]

On the "normal" fast trolling, barbless hooks are just fine. Oh someone here will tell you that they lose an occasional fish on them, but it is rare. The benefit is....it is so much easier to remove the hook. Plus, just imagine a barbed 11/0 hook embedded into the flesh. So there is a safety advantage of the barbless.

On "medium small" feathers, a full-sized double is still OK. But for (what I call) very small, like the Sumo mini jet heads, I prefer the baby doubles, which is a 6/0 or 7/0 Mustad 7982HS.

[Nalu]

Stay with the ones you have. No need for barbs, in fact, they just make life more difficult.

[crabbait]

Keep the line tight and no worries. We run nothing but barbless on trolling jigs.

[FinFansea]

I can’t imagine one of these even without barbs embedded somewhere in my body.

Thanks for the advice!

[Robalo Bill]

I got rid of all my barbed tuna hooks years ago. With multiple hookups,
thrashing fish...the last thing you want to do is mess with a barbed hook for 10 minutes. There is of course the safety factor..if you get hooked it's an easy process to back the hook out. Barbed hooks would cause too much tissue damage (backed out). The ED procedure is to push the hook through until the barb is exposed, then pinched or cut off and backed back out. In muscle tissue, this hurts like hell.

Bill

[Tower Todd]

The only time we lost any fish with the barbless was when we took the young boys out fishing and they didn't always keep the line tight. I wouldn't use the barbed hooks....much too hard to get them out.

TT