Swapping trebs for standard hooks

I want to swap allot of my trebble hooks for conventional hooks, mainly from a conservation point of view. Sometimes trebs can be hard to dislodge from a fish and allot more damage is done that way.


Does anyone know if you can get a very short shank 2/0 hook..? Would be ideal..!

What about trying a 2/0 size in the Cox & Rawle crab hooks? May not be suitable but they have a wide gape to a very short shank.

Good idea, I believe I even have a few packs in my aladins cave of tackle.

Why try barbless Trebs. You can even semi de-barb a treb with a good pliers.

Kev

Never tried them but I am trying to get away from trebs. I want to be able to unhook fish easier and if poss without handling them. I have a mark in kerry that produces good numbers of Bass but at times Mackerel can be annoying and after reading reciently that they dont live after being handled I want to find a way to release them easier. Im going to try a single hook and use your suggestion of making it barbless, might be just what im looking for.

Eoghan - simply taking the barb from the hook as MAC suggests is a MUST. Just use a pliers to flatten the barb completely. It makes life real easy for you and the fish and reduces release time and stress to a minimum - more often than not just seconds.

Try releasing the fish while its still in the water with no human contact at all. By simply carrying a small long nosed pliers - bring the fish close to you reach out, catch the hook and turn - - - off they go!!!

Jim

Dont have a problem with single hooks, its trebs that cause a problem and mostly with mackerel than bass. I only encounter mackerel at a few of my Bass marks so its not a major problem. I am just going to put small single hooks on my spinners n plugs, thats all. I tried this last September at one mark for Bass and had no problem. I replaced a treb from a german sprat with a small feather hook. Worked well. Hooked more Bass than my mate so it wasnt costing me fish and they all went back very easy.