Not long ago I was contacted by Jeff Walker, President of D-Barb, Inc. He told me about a new product his company developed that would make the safe releasing of "gut hooked" fish a breeze. I was quite skeptical but when Mr. Walker offered to send me a sample to try out I accepted.

I started to bring the tool with me each time I went out bass fishing. On the first couple of trips I fortunately didn't need the services of his product. But on my last trip out I was fishing for Largemouth with several different types of Senko Lures (soft plastic baits by Gary Yamamoto Bait Co.). If you haven't tried these I suggest you do ( http://www.yamamoto.baits.com/ ). Anyway, I hooked into a two pound largemouth and when I boated him I saw that the hook was buried deeply in it's throat.

Being strictly a catch and release fisherman I had the feeling of "instant regret". I think the true sportsman will understand exactly what I mean. I started to reach for my long nose pliers and then remembered the D-Barb.

I was able to see the barb on the hook and was easily able to reach down with the extra long handles and snip the hook in two, removing the barb. It cut through the hardened Gamakatsu hook like it was butter. From there I had no problem backing the hook out and releasing the fish unharmed.

A little later in the day I had a similar situation with another bass about the same size. It was one of those days where the bass were really inhaling the baits and trying to swallow them quickly. By the way, the salt content in the Yamamoto baits is three times what most companies put in. I think that's why they are so heavy and why the fish love them so much.

This fish had really swallowed the hook with only the last half inch or so visible. It was bleeding and I felt the best I could do was to reach down as far as possible (quite easy with the D-Barb) and just snip off the hook. Of course I don't know what the long term effect on the fish will be but I felt that I would have had a hard time cutting the hook as closely as I did with diagonal cutters, especially as deep as it was.

After having had the opportunity to try out the D-Barb, I believe that all true "catch and release" fisherman should have one along in their tackle bag. It is truly a useful and necessary tool for all true sportsman.

Mike Pace
BassFishingUSA.com

www.BassFishingUSA.com

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DBarb,

Thank you for sending one of your D-Barb catch-and-release tools to our
Fisheries Division Administrator, Norm Stucky.  Norm showed the tool to me
and our other Fisheries Unit Chiefs and I asked to take it on a fishing trip
to give it a try.  To be honest, I was a bit skeptical, but at this point
I'm not sure Norm will be able to get the tool back from me!  While our
agency doesn't  endorse commercial products, I will give you my impression
of how it worked for me, as an angler, and also my perspective as a
fisheries manager.

I used the D-Barb on quite a few fish over the past few weeks, here in
Missouri, and during a fishing vacation to Ontario.  I have personally used
it on largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, muskie, and Northern pike.  Whenever
I could reach an exposed barb the cutting tool worked exactly as advertised.
Sometimes, when the barb of the hook was not exposed I was able to cut the
hook shank and remove most of the hook; at other times I just used the tool
as a long handled plier to remove a hook.

I found the tool very helpful for removing hooks.  Anytime we can reduce
unhooking stress and get a fish back in the water more quickly it should
help increase catch-and-release survival.

I will share this note and your web address: www.dbarb.com with a number of
my coworkers in Fisheries Division.  Good luck with your new invention!

Kevin Richards           
Fisheries Unit Chief
Missouri Department of Conservation

"Do it for the next generation!"