Should I use barbed or barbless hooks

I will always buy barbed hooks, that way you can always pinch in the barb with a pair of pliers and you have a barbless hook. As far as fishing with them, I will use barbed hooks as I find they provide a much more secure hook hold and cause less damage to the carps mouth. The reason for this, I believe, is the hook does not move around as much. I have read and experienced first hand, fisheries that impose a barbless only hook rule tend to have fish that actually have more damage and tears around the mouth.

Something to also bear in mind is removing the hooks. Barbless hooks obviously come out of the fishes mouth very easily, where as barbed hooks can be more difficult. I think as long you take the time and care you will have no problems to safely removing the hook without causing damage to the carp.

So a lot of anglers use barbed hook as they believe they will lose less fish. I am not conviced by this argument as I have rarely lost carp using barbless hooks. As long as you dont let the line slack you should be able to land the fish. I tend to agree with the points made above, barbed hooks actually cause less damage to the fish and it still confuses me when fisheries only alloe barbless hooks. There does seem to be a change in this trend and I have noticed some fisheries are reversing this rule and asking anglers to use barbed hooks.

If the fishery permits, I use barbed hooks. The hook moves around much less in the carps mouth and causes much less damage. I always thought barbless would be better for the fish but I have witnessed first hand the damage that can be done with barbless hooks. It seems a lot more fisheries are now enforcing barbed hook rules.