Treble hooks; just say no

ericl

Well-Known Member
I am finding it quite difficult to find a study that directly addresses treble hooks with Salmon in Saltwater.
Old Black Dog did not like the fact that a study I referenced was done in freshwater. I would say about this study; not perfect but still relevant. No matter what I say or reference it seems there are those not open to discussion of this issue.

Here is a link to a DFO mortality study posted by agentaqua:
http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/csas-sccs/Publications/ResDocs-DocRech/2017/2017_011-eng.html

There was no direct info on mortality of trebles; indirectly trebles were associated with a more difficult, longer time to release the fish with more handling of the fish. Handling & time out of water have direct mortality info.

Bottom line is that my strongest case against trebles is that so many US states have banned them & my own personal experience catching Trout, Salmon, & Bottomfish with trebles from 1962 - 1998 or so. I believe it is selfish to use a method that is more harmful to released fish just so we don't want to loose any fish we hook.

As for not needing more regulations, we should not deny that several conservation related issues exist, and these issues are becoming more numerous. If we don't regulate ourselves, somebody else will. With the large number of endangered US Salmon stocks caught in BC, it is within reason to predict that similar catch & release methods be employed coast-wide to protect stocks of concern.
 
Trebles definitely beat up on fish far more than singles. It shouldnt require a saltwater study to confirm it, just a smidgen of critical thinking. If you plan on possibly releasing some of the fish you catch, consider using singles - for the good of the fish!
 
On Anchovy's I went from a single treble, to a treble with free-swinging single, then just 2 singles. I like the action of the singles much better; it rolls at an erratic rate. I had one day where my hook-ups were not too good but otherwise the 2 singles seems to be the best for hook-ups. The guide I just went with out of Masset has switched also - his main reason was the trebles got tangled in the net. For the 3 days I fished Iron Needle whooped poo-poo on bait, but all the bait hook-ups stuck. The guide uses 4/0; I use a 4/0 on front & 5/0 on the trailer.

Yeah, critical thinking, some can some can't. Mark Twain says common sense is not common.
 
I switched to the 2 singles on my chovies about 2 yrs ago and am happy I did, first of all for the easier releases and 2nd because very little if any difference in hookups plus once hooked very seldom lost as opposed to str8ening the odd treble. also the possible net mess as previously mentioned with trebles.
 
I am finding it quite difficult to find a study that directly addresses treble hooks with Salmon in Saltwater.
Old Black Dog did not like the fact that a study I referenced was done in freshwater. I would say about this study; not perfect but still relevant. No matter what I say or reference it seems there are those not open to discussion of this issue.

Here is a link to a DFO mortality study posted by agentaqua:
http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/csas-sccs/Publications/ResDocs-DocRech/2017/2017_011-eng.html

There was no direct info on mortality of trebles; indirectly trebles were associated with a more difficult, longer time to release the fish with more handling of the fish. Handling & time out of water have direct mortality info.

Bottom line is that my strongest case against trebles is that so many US states have banned them & my own personal experience catching Trout, Salmon, & Bottomfish with trebles from 1962 - 1998 or so. I believe it is selfish to use a method that is more harmful to released fish just so we don't want to loose any fish we hook.

As for not needing more regulations, we should not deny that several conservation related issues exist, and these issues are becoming more numerous. If we don't regulate ourselves, somebody else will. With the large number of endangered US Salmon stocks caught in BC, it is within reason to predict that similar catch & release methods be employed coast-wide to protect stocks of concern.
Like the Americans haven't raped our fish, shell fish etc for years? Do you release sockeye bound for the Fraser River? I'll keep bonking those salmon in our waters.
 
Like the Americans haven't raped our fish, shell fish etc for years? Do you release sockeye bound for the Fraser River? I'll keep bonking those salmon in our waters.

He's american. post a pic with a treble he attacks it. i have way bigger issues than treble hooks. don't get me going on releasing so called " wild " coho. let's talk about the mortality rates on those poor coho you have to weed thru to get a hatchery coho.
 
There really is no need to use a treble to catch a fish. It makes sense not to trash fish and keep them out of the water unnecessarily if there is a chance you will release (always a chance). Just learn to keep tension on the line. Easy peasy.
 
There really is no need to use a treble to catch a fish. It makes sense not to trash fish and keep them out of the water unnecessarily if there is a chance you will release (always a chance). Just learn to keep tension on the line. Easy peasy.

Not sure where and how you fish BUT I prefer barbless triple hooks on bait and jerk lures.
hootchies and spoons yes...go single
BUT no need to harm a salmon while releasing with triples
 
Not sure where and how you fish BUT I prefer barbless triple hooks on bait and jerk lures.
hootchies and spoons yes...go single
BUT no need to harm a salmon while releasing with triples

Ok fair enough I use trebles for bait and mooching. Ha. I guess I didn't give that comment enough thought. It can be a struggle though sometimes to unpin a fish and they are out of the water longer so I am going to try to switch on the bait.
 
I believe it is selfish to use a method that is more harmful to released fish just so we don't want to loose any fish we hook.
...Couldn't have said it any better! :)
Few summers ago, buddy hooked a steelhead when fishing the cap mouth. It had inhaled the bait and it was quiet a challenge to unpin the hook. Since that day, I switched to single for all sorts of fishing and to my surprise, my hook-up ratio has even gone higher.
 
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This seems to be more of I use this therefore you should. All to make it feel like you making a difference in conservation. If you think this makes a large difference than have at it. I don't really think you should criticize the majority of anglers that don't. Also were not the united states last time I checked. Our group has enough regulations. Changing a hook type isn't going to change anything.

We're not pushing for hook bans in Canada so if it makes you feel good than just do it. I don't see this making a difference. It's a drop-in the bucket compared to the larger picture with our fishery. That's just my view.
 
Every fishery and every week is different. If there are lots of chinooks, I prefer to run spoons or plugs on singles. If there are lots of shakers, cohoes, pinks, or dogfish I wouldn't run bait, unless I felt that the only way to get a chinook was on a chovie, but then I would run two singles.
If I knew I would be trolling for hours with the hope of getting a hit or two, I would run bait with a treble and a single trailer.
I fish alone, so I need to gaff release a fish quickly and get back to steering. I find it easier to work the gaff on a single. For the safety of me, other boats, and the fish, I don't want to fart around with pliers and trebles.
I hate trebles for spiny bottom fish and usually pinch the barb of a single assist hook, so I can get it back in the water before I drift off too far.
 
Fair enough on all comments; thanks. It took me 46 years of using trebles (at age 58) to think about this issue. My reason for using the US as as example was I could not find any great "smoking gun" type of evidence on the trebles. From what I hear Australia has banned them & England is considering it. California has gone as far as to mandate barbless circle hooks when using bait for Salmon. Alaska held some committee hearings & heard comments of both sides of the trebles issue, then banned their possession on any vessel in saltwater to keep federal & state regulations the same.
I am getting softer on the fish as i get older. Killed 10,000 pounds of fish in 24 hours long lining & it had an effect on me (the hooks get mechanically ripped from the fish).
 
He's american. post a pic with a treble he attacks it. i have way bigger issues than treble hooks. don't get me going on releasing so called " wild " coho. let's talk about the mortality rates on those poor coho you have to weed thru to get a hatchery coho.

I have to agree with this statement too. Fishing this weekend in Puget Sound we hooked into 6 Coho. Only one of which was a hatchery fish. I know 3 of the wild coho we released most likely died after release (gill hooked one, eye hooked another and one which was bleeding pretty heavily when we were bringing it in). So, of those 6 fish, only 2 may have an actual chance of survival.... It really bothered me. So much so that my wife had to keep telling me "Hun, you cant do anything about it".

I want to see our sport fisheries rebound. Selfishly for myself but also other people and their future generations. I do not like the idea of keeping wild fish but I dont like wasting food either. I'm a huge fan of the ideas floating around about keeping your "first keeper size coho" regardless of them being wild/hatchery. If you have people limiting out early, well, their lines are no longer in the water.

Mehh. I'm just venting because I still feel bad about those poor fish I inadvertently killed.
 
TanTastic i couldn't agree more. i have had the same experience with coho so many times. they are suicidal and hit the offering so hard they usually end up with mangled faces and eyes. on single barbless hooks might i add.
to add to the treble debate in my experience they are so sticky they usually end up hooking up in the lip or side of the jaw before they are deeply ingested.
 
That's the thing I forgot to mention. I've always been a fan of single point barbless. I actually use smaller hooks than most probably would. Especially on my spoons. On my spoons I like to run 2/0 - 3/0 Mustad stainless siwash hooks. They're plenty big enough in my opinion and tend to stay sharp for quite some time. I've always worried about hooking smaller fish with smaller hooks but honestly, I haven't noticed a huge difference. I do notice how much more damage larger siwash hooks do to the little dink fish when they hammer spoons.

I did change over to hootchies afterwards. We actually didn't get hooked up with shakers after switching to hootchies. Perhaps it's because I run 5/0 tandem singles on those.... I don't know anymore! Every time I think, I contradict something else I thought. It's a vicious cycle! :)

Sorry for hijacking the thread. I did fish anchovies as well but the dogfish were tearing those up. However, I was hooking the dogfish really nicely on the top+front / corner of their mouth. So I guess I was doing something right with my little 3/0 single octopus hooks there. Very easy releases!
 
4/0 5/0 6/0 plus siwash hooks kill way more fish then a #4 #2 or #1 treble could ever dream about.. (saltwater usage only).. its about the hook size.. this is one of those things that size matters and there is a huge different in mort rates from fresh to salt water..so lets not kid ourselves....
 
Derby; agree on the mortality rate between fresh/salt. Study I referenced was fresh, but compared barbless treble versus barbless singles. I see this as pretty good data.
My experience has been more bleeding with trebles versus siwish.
Why do you think so many US states, Australia, etc have banned them?
 
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