The most important piece of gear in your tackle box is the carp hook, without it you are not going to catch any fish. You need to ensure that your carp hook is strong or even the best rod won’t help you make the catch.
There is always conversations in the angling community about barbed hooks and barbless hooks. It’s not always just a question of which you prefer, but there are also some areas that prohibit the use of one or the other; researching area laws is important. Both types of hooks have a large role in fishing for carp, opinions on both differ greatly.
There are many things to consider about barbed hooks, naturally, more fish can be caught using these types of hooks. A barbed hook latches itself to the inside of the carps mouth, a barbless hook is often spit back out.
The catch rate increases drastically when using the barbed hooks, but there are some down falls to them as well. If you have any respect for the carp, and many carp anglers do, then you know what can happen if you lose a catch that still has your hook in its flesh. Additionally, if you catch a carp and don’t remove the hook properly, you will cause significant damage to the carps mouth. Many fisherman catch and release, it’s all about the sport of it, it is frustrating when they catch a large carp that has had its mouth damaged because of a barbed hook.
Barbed hooks may yield more catches for you, but using barbless hooks provides a better challenge and makes the sport of carp fishing that much more interesting. For popular fishing areas, having a barbless rule is a way to ensure that carp fish are handled correctly and are not damaged needlessly. Because it’s not as easy to catch carp with barbless hooks, the game is much more fun. Regardless, some carp have found ways to eject the hook, barbed or barbless, before you know what really happened.
As well as choosing between a barbed hook and a barbless hook, you need to consider the hook wire you will be using as well. Its simple really, the bigger hook gets the thicker wire. The thickness of the wire could be the difference between catching a carp or losing a carp. Which would you prefer? Before heading out on a carp fishing trip, look over your equipment and learn the area rules. If you are headed out to the lake, stream or river for the first fish of the season, a quick check on your hook sharpness, strength and venue rules before you go may save you much needed time to be spent elsewhere, perhaps catching ‘the big one’.
Ashley Davids recommends buying barbless carp hooks. If you are after carp gear then try www.hairrigs.com