The Angler's Needs

The D-BARB Process:

An Angler's need for the D-Barb is very familiar to Fishermen and Women.  Trying to manage a rod, line, pliers, net, and fish when removing a "Swallowed" hook can be an exceptionally frustrating experience for anyone.  Frequently, removing the hook is so difficult, that many anglers either rip the hook(s) out, killing the fish, or simply cut the line and let the fish go free, with the hook and lure still imbedded in throat or gills, losing a rig and dooming the fish to a slow painful death.  With the D-Barb all of this hassle is taken care of with one quick clip of the hook.  In an instant the barb is removed and the remainder of the lure slides effortlessly out of the fish.


Step 1: Using the plier-like nose, grab hold of and cut the barb off of your catch.


Step2: After clipping the barb the magnets near the cutting blades keep the barb from being swallowed by the fish.


Step3: The hook 




Step 4: Release unharmed fish back into water.

The Practice of Catch and Release
The fishery's resources of our State are finite and coming under increasing pressure. The numbers of many species important to anglers have declined; this is why fisheries' regulations have been put in place to cover bag limits, size limits, closed seasons and in some cases the total protection of species. As a result, anglers often catch fish that are required by law to be returned to the water. It is also becoming common for anglers interested in the sporting aspects of fishing to release some fish that they could legally keep. The emphasis of game-fishing, for example, is shifting from capture and kill to "catch and release".

The benefits of releasing fish alive are widely recognized. Released fish can live on to be caught later, when they are bigger. They also continue to spawn, contributing to the spawning stock biomass, and improving fish populations in the longer term.

Numerous studies of freshwater fisheries have shown that most fish survive catch and release. The small amount of work done on saltwater species has also shown a high survival rate. The high incidence of recaptures among tagged saltwater gamefish is an indication of the good survival rates of released fish.

Surviving  A Hook Wound

 The site and severity of the hook wound obviously play an important part in whether or not a fish will survive.

Fish hooked in the gills and guts are less likely to survive than those hooked in the mouth. However, even deeply hooked fish can survive if the barb is cut allowing the hook to be removed without further damage. Removing the hook without cutting the barb has been shown to dramatically reduce the chances of a fish surviving.

Tips on UnHooking & D-Barbing

 Avoid lifting the fish out of the water if possible, and unhook and release it quickly.

A hook releaser (D-Barb) may be useful for removing hooks from the throat.  The few cents a hook costs are not worth killing a fish.

Flattening the barbs on a hook is extremely difficult.  However, now with D-Barb you can use barbed hooks to assure a catch without the worry of how to remove the hook without further injury.