Barbless flies

[briansII]

The little bump, or ragged edge of a pinched barb can make removal a bit of work. Bigger the hook/pinched barb, the more effort. Truly barbless hooks slide out relatively easy.

One time I thought I would have to drive home with a pinched barb Clouser stuck in my face. When I finally got it out with needle nose pliers, I checked, and the barb was pinched down. Another time I did drive home with a pinched barb fly stuck in the back of my arm. Part of that was my fault, since I couldn't see that I was actually pushing the fly in instead of out. By the time I figured out what direction to pull, that little nub made it tough to get out of me and my shirt.

Guess I need to practice pinching barbs or use a dremel on em'.

briansII

[BrownBear]

...use a dremel on em'.

That's what we do with all our larger saltwater flies, down as small as about 1/0. Depends on the make and model of the hooks, as well as the tip on the Dremel, but you can go down to #2 and even #4 pretty readily. Below that, operating space becomes an issue.