I tie all my flies with barbless hooks, or de-barb them before I start tying. I find I get a better initial hookset with barbless hooks, as the barb isn’t there to interfere with penetration. I’m not sure if you fly fish, so YMMV, as fly rods are longer and more flexible than conventional rods. They are weaker on hookset but better at maintaining pressure when a fish changes direction.
Circle hooks have been revolutionary for saltwater bait fishing. In Cabo San Lucas, most of the captains have gone 100% to circle hooks for billfish and tuna. Billfish mortality has gone WAY down.
I mostly trolley for lake trout but also fly fish occasionally for a change of pace. Totally different experiences for sure. I caught this beauty last year.
Not to mention the incredibly bony head. Where I’m fishing these days has spots where carp come up to feed during a dry spell. A lot of the big guys have what looks to be wounds on their foreheads from boat propellers (huge amounts of boat traffic during the day). They don’t seem compromised at all by them, and they seem to have barely scored the bone.
I did have a chortle out loud as well about the supposed delicateness of carp.
