I’ve had some of the same questions for myself over the years as an avid fly fisherman, but I’ve definitely landed on its okay for me.

Maybe once every couple of years, I’ll gill-hook a small fish. That’s unfortunate, but I honestly look at it similarly to running over a squirrel or rabbit every couple of years on accident while driving. The reality is that as humans live our modern lives on earth, we have a negative impact on other living things. I guess that kind of sucks, but there’s no real way around it. And in the grand scheme, c&r fly fishing is tiny in terms of impact.

My recommendation if you’re feeling unsure is to fly fish only with barbless flies. If you’re chucking three-pronged-barbed rapellas into rivers and lakes and then letting them go, that really injures fish and causes problems. Those people should only catch what they will eat. I can’t tell you how many fish I’ve caught over the years with a deformed/missing lower jaw from somebody doing just that. It’s so rare to really hurt a fish with a barbless fly that I don’t even think about it.