De-hookers and barbless or circle hooks are powerful tools that minimize the time trauma for fish at boatside.

I don’t want to sound like I disapprove of harvesting fish, but we should all do our best to use fish as a sustainable form of entertainment and food.

De-hookers and barbless or circle hooks are powerful tools that minimize the time trauma for fish at boatside. They enable us to release fish as healthy as possible, whether it’s due to size, creel limits and seasons, or fish that are heavy with roe. These tools provide us with many ways to accomplish the release without ever touching the fish at all, giving us the power to protect the fish we catch.

A quality de-hooker with a T handle provides full control of the fish and hook when using barbless circle hooks. With quite a few species, dozens of fish are caught per trip, and being able to take care of the smaller fish helps those fish survive to sexual maturity. Hopefully they’ll have at least one successful spawn, which ensures the future fishery.

There are other species like speckled trout that are effortless to release with a barbless jig hook. You can simply give trout slack line at the boat, and they will release themselves. Or just grab the jig head and barely push backward, allowing the trout to swim away without ever being touched.

This Striped Bass caught with a barbless Barefoot Circle Hook Chin weight. These work great for practicing catch and release.

Too may times, I’ve seen young or uninformed anglers struggle with fish at boatside. It’s even worse when a fish intended for release is hooked deep with a barbed jig or J hook. I try to be courteous and inform the angler on how to use the de-hooker and/or barbless hooks in the future.

Another way to reduce the possibility of deep hooking is to use more soft plastic baits. By using baits like Gulp! that work great with circle hooks and are impregnated with scent, we can encourage fish to keep the baits in their mouths longer, reducing the risk of deep hooking. This responsible approach has the potential to dramatically improve our catch rates and the well-being of the fish we catch.

All fish have great senses of smell and taste, and a bag of soft plastic baits typically smells or tastes like … plastic. This is the reason Pro Cure Shrimp is a no-brainer. Everything in the water eats a shrimp. I typically keep a shrimp tied on the jig rod, and a shrimp on the cork rod. Speaking of smell and taste, if you smoke, consider how the smell of cigarettes on you hands affects the smell of the soft plastics you use.

In closing, I’d like to encourage all the parents and role models out there to set a good example of how to properly release fish and how to use all the tools available to release fish as healthy as possible. As a parent or role model, your actions and attitudes towards fishing can significantly influence the next generation of anglers. By demonstrating responsible fishing practices and sharing your knowledge, you can help ensure the sustainability of our fisheries. Make your own videos to inform friends about how to accomplish this, or share some of my videos.

Check out Tim Barefoot’s website, barefootcatsandtackle.com, for fishing tackle and how-to videos for Freshwater or Saltwater.

Additionally, you can view more fishing videos on Tim Barefoot’s YouTube channel.

For smaller freshwater fish try:

Size #6: Target fish include Panfish including Bluegill (Bream), Sunfish, and Crappie. Also great for Trout, Carp, White Perch, and more.

For larger freshwater fish try:

Size 1/0: Target fish include Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Larger Trout, Carp, Walleye, and more.

Barefoot Jig: Target fish include Trout (speckled and gray), Drum (red and black), Flounder, Striped and Hybrid Bass, Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Walleye and more!

For larger catfish fish try:

7/0 Catfish Circle Hook: Target fish include Blue, Bullhead, Channel, Flathead, and White Catfish.

SALTWATER TACKLE YOU MAY WANT TO TRY:

7/0 and 11/0 J-Hook Chin Weights: Target fish include Tuna, Wahoo, Mahi or Common Dolphin, King Mackerel, Wahoo, and more. Easy to rig!

4 oz. Crab Decoy Jig: Target fish for Striped Bass, nearshore Drum, Snook, Grouper, west coast bottom fish, and more.

4 oz. Tuna Squid Decoy Jig: From the eastern, western, Alaskan, and gulf coasts, target fish include: Tuna, Dolphin, Wahoo, Fluke, Flounder, Striped Bass, Seabass, Amberjack (east coast), Yellow Tail (west coast), California White Sea Bass (west coast), Grouper, Snapper, Halibut, Ling cod, and all Alaskan bottom fish.

8 oz. - 12 oz. 10/0 Squid Decoy Jig: Catch BIG Grouper, Amberjack, Giant Stripers, and more.