I'm now flattening my barbs when the target is mainly likely to be flatties.
Had 7 last night and all just dropped off.
Thing is, there's nothing going to take a hook that's likely to be lost due to a flattened barb. There's nowt much big enough to make a real fight of it and strip line from the reel so barbless is OK for me.
I'm not happy with the way I'm getting so many foul hooked.
It's the way I'm baiting up that does it I'm pretty certain. A sandeel or ragworm up the hook and onto the line is quite long. I'm thinking that a flattie will try to take this sideways rather than from an end. So when I feel a bite and strike it pulls the hook across the front of the mouth and the hook goes in through the eye socket mostly.
Anybody got any ideas on how to combat this to make it more likely to be a mouth hooking?