Ask MidCurrent: Will Crushing Hook Barbs Hurt My Vise?

Question: Does using vise jaws to mash hook barbs cause damage to the vise?
—Jim from Southwest Florida (via the Ask MidCurrent form)

Answer: As with so many things in fly fishing, the answer is, “It depends.” No less an authority than Tim Flagler of Tightline Productions advocates this method (see the video above), albeit with a few caveats. “Crushing the barbs on trout-size hooks won’t hurt the jaws of a high-end vise,” he says. He uses Regal and Dyna-King vises and claims he’s never seen any damage from barb-mashing. Keep in mind that you’re not trying to crush the actual wire of the hook point, just the thin barb. That said, Tim recommends that you place the hook barb as far back in the jaws as the hook gap allows, so you aren’t using the very tips of the jaws to do the crushing. He breaks out the pliers only when the hooks get larger than a size 2, like those often used for saltwater patterns or giant streamers.

If you don’t have top-notch vise, or if you aren’t sure, it’s perhaps wise to keep a hemostat or a pair of smooth-jaw pliers on your tying desk and crush the barbs before they go in the vise. Doing this at the tying stage has two benefits. First, if you’re in a time-sensitive situation on the water—for instance, if there’s a rising fish in front of you—every second counts, so skipping the barb-crushing step may be a key to success. Second, every once in a while, a hook point will break during the crushing process, and it’s better that this has happened before you’ve tied the fly.