Right on party people, maybe I should post a poll: Who else uses live trout for bait? or Do fish have feelings?

Yeah, I'm not too concerned with whether a fish that I catch feels a lot of pain or not, but the article did make me think about minimizing the damage hooks do. So thats why I wondered if anyone had tried using barbless hooks in saltwater. Didn't get too many responses on that.

I think bottom line is that fish aren't too smart, because if those hooks really hurt them, they'd learn pretty quick not to eat the crap we're throwing at them; they'd associate pain with the lure. But instead, I think they are more concerned about putting food in their mouths than they are about hooks or about getting their feelings hurt ;-)

** tight lines make all my troubles go away **