No matter what type of hook you end up choosing, you can certainly help things out by crushing the barbs. If you talk to any angler who makes this their habit, he or she will be able to confirm that the bump left when the barb is squeezed up against the point still makes it pretty tough to get the hook out.

And one final question remains: How many of these small bass do you have to catch? Hey, I’ll never begrudge someone the pleasure of feeling life at the end of the line, especially after a long winter, but bragging about catching untold numbers of hungry, uneducated schoolies is a head-scratcher in my book.

With so many small striped bass all around…, I typically start thinking about catch-and-release.

Source: Catch And Release Technique Matters With So Many Schoolies Around | Columns | capenews.net