A while ago Chris posted this<br>http://www.equipped.org/wwwthreads/showt...p;vc=1#Post2931<br>he mentions nail clippers in a fishing kit. Why?

I can't speak for Chris or his intentions for nail clippers, but when I'm out at the local lakes and rivers...I always have a pair on a lanyard around my neck. They come in handy for clipping the fishing line when swivels are not used, when fishing pliers aren't handy, and for when pliers are too bulky for a small fishing kit. They also clip fingernails, too :-)<br><br>John McIntire

John covered everything but one use. If you are unfortunate enough to impale yourself with a hook ( and I did just that in the interest of field experience for the future article): it must be debarbed for extraction or pushed through the flesh. A nail clipper is often sufficient for this task.

I can´t speak for John, but I debarb my hooks before I start using them. It´s surprising how hard it is to loose the fish even when you wish to loose it. On one ocassion I accidently impaled myself with a size 6 mayfly. It really was an asset that it it didn´t have a barb.

And on that note...i'm going to start de-barbing my hooks. (LOL)<br><br>John McIntire

I de-barb my hooks, too. I am surprised to hear someone else does also. It makes fishing more pleasant and humane and the hooks don't lose any effectiveness in my experience (mostly freshwater fishing). I would leave the barb on for survival use, though.

In my experience the hooks even gain some effectiveness. As debarbing reduces the cross section of the wire, it´s easier to set the hooks. My success in hooking fish on medium distance casts with the fly nearly doubled after I started to debarb. So I even debarb the hooks in my kit.<br>BTW: I know a lot of people who debarb their hooks. Most of them fish with flies. They also claim that it increases their success.

I think people forget that barbs on fishing hooks were only introduced to stop the bait from slipping off. Since fly fishing is effectively a baitless sport then barbs really are redundant.