Idaho Angler Poll Tackles Barbed Issue

Sun., Sept. 21, 1997

The Idaho Fish and Game Department is asking anglers whether they want to drop rules requiring barbless hooks for fishing on some waters.

Nine studies in other parts of the country have indicated there’s little difference in fish mortality using barbed or barbless hooks.

Dan Schill, Fish and Game research biologist, said hooking mortality depends more on where a fish is hooked, not the style of hook. He said if fish are hooked in the mouth, they likely will survive. If they are hooked in the gills or deep in the throat, the potential for death increases greatly.

Oregon recently dropped its barbless hook regulations and wants neighboring Idaho and Washington to change their regulations on the Snake and Columbia rivers to avoid conflicts.

Idaho Fish and Game mailed a survey to 2,300 anglers, asking them if they wanted to drop barbless hook rules. Anglers must use barbless hooks on all special regulation waters, including the portions of the St. Joe and Coeur d’Alene.

Barbless hooks also are required while pursuing salmon, steelhead and sturgeon.

Response from anglers will be presented at the Oct. 2-3 Fish and Game Commission meeting in Boise. Regulations for the 1998-99 seasons will be adopted then.

Bill Hutchinson, state hatcheries manager for Fish and Game, said the potential change is up to anglers.

“This is a social issue, not a biological issue,” he said. “If the public says they want to keep barbless restrictions, we will keep them.”

Hutchinson said it’s been a sore point with some anglers, who point out it makes little sense to be ticketed for something that has no biological implications.

Montana, for example, does not have barbless requirements on its world-class trout streams.

“Some people say our regulations are too complicated,” Hutchinson said. “This is one way to simplify.”

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