SportFishing and Charters Forum - Irresponsible Advertising by "Harmless Hooks" ...Supported by PETA!!!!

I just saw the advertising banner for "Harmless Hooks" at the top of another "The Hull Truth" thread.

Out of curiosity I clicked on it to see what new gimick someone has come up with now.

I'll hold my tounge on what I actually think of the product but will say I think they are being extremly irresponsible in the way they are trying to drum up business.

They make the claim "Most fish that are caught and released using hooks other than "harmless hooks" die of infection"

That is simply not true. For this company to put out an unfounded blanket statment that casts a negative light on catch and release fishing is completley irresponsible.

Check it out yourself at the following link and email them demanding they remove statments that are not true and can hurt our sport if taken as fact by those who do not know any better!

Look at their FAQ page.

http://www.harmlesshook.com/#!home/mainPage


Folks, I've actually just added this part after learning that Harmless Hooks is working to partner with PETA together on this. Keep reading down this thread for more info on this. Now there is no doubt in my mind where the inventor of "Harmless Hooks" got his info from suggesting that "most of the fish that are released after they are caught die"

The owner of this company contacted me right away after I sent him an email expressing my concern. To his credit they did remove the most blatantly misleading statment from their website. That being said, I can not support a company in the fishing industry that is in anyway associated with PETA. The very orginization that would love to see the end of any type of recreational and/or commercial fishing!

Capt. Jason DuBose
Lucky Hooker
42 Yellowfin
Hilton Head, SC

Look like some sort of plastic?
At a buck and a half each, who wants to leave it in a small panfish?
Another example of an expensive solution looking for a problem.

I understand your feelings but it's their 1st amendment rights. If they are misleading, people will boycott them. There is so much BS in advertizing anyway.

I personaly could not care less if they make false claims regarding how well their products work.

My issue is with the fact they falsley claim that most fish that are caught and released die.

This just gives ammunition, false ammunition, to those groups like PETA, Evironmental Defense Foundation, etc. that would like to see the end of fishing period.

I personaly could not care less if they make false claims regarding how well their products work.

My issue is with the fact they falsley claim that most fish that are caught and released die.

This just gives ammunition, false ammunition, to those groups like PETA, Evironmental Defense Foundation, etc. that would like to see the end of fishing period.

I agree 100%. We don't need this kind of false and misleading information out there, whether it's used to promote their product or not.

I just shot him a message in the "contact us" portion of the site, with pointed questions about backing up their claim of "Most caught-and-released fish die".

Also I asked about how the hooks prevent infection when used in combination with dirty/dead/possibly bacteria laden bait, since you don't usually catch fish on sterile, bare hooks.

Lastly, I'd like to know just how long these hooks take to rust out, if in fact they do rust out - as well as how they go about protecting the fish from infection when they are corroding, when left in a fish as recommended on their site when easy removal is not possible.

-T

I would like to know how much grant money they received from the Department of The Interior or NOAA to fund the 'anti-microbial' fish hook. :o
Probably millions of our taxpayer dollars? Are they PETA approved and what would Bob Barker say about them?

lol. What they should have said is it will prevent fisherman's infections from all the bacteria on fish.

But that would be a violation of federal law. Can't do that. So instead lie about protecting the poor fishies.

Are they serious? Really?

I would think the best hook for catch and release saltwater fishing would be a high carbon steel hook akin to the regular old brown mustad hooks with the barb flattened. That way if you break the line the hook will rust out completely in a month or so. In freshwater I would go for a barbless stainless steel hook - as light as you can get away with, because even a cheap hook is not going to rust out in freshwater for a long long time.

I have already informed the fishing tackle industry group American Sportfishing Association, who are investigating [they've never heard of them], but am not sure they have any legal footing even if it is a fake.

Tunanorth,

Pretty sure it's real. I emailed the contact address on the website complaining about the irresponsible and unfounded statment they made saying "most fish that are caught and then released die".

I received an email back within a few hours from the inventor of the product. He said it was not their intention to cast such a light on sportfishing and would talk to his advertising guys about changing their message.

I looked at the site to day that that statement has been removed. It still says catch and release fishing with traditional hooks causes a lot of harm to fish but gone is the statement saying "most fish that are released after being caught die"

Fish hook and infections... Someone caught this yellowfin with someone elses Aftco gaff stuck in it's side which had apparently been there for a while. The gaff didn't seem to bother him as he was eating again and .... no infection! Fish spines aren't exactly dull either.

http://i.cdn-surfline.com/fishtrack/2012/editorial/02february/tuna_gaff/03.jpg

Ha, I love it. "Don't even worry about getting the hook out, just buy more!" No double motive there! :)

Fish hook and infections... Someone caught this yellowfin with someone elses Aftco gaff stuck in it's side which had apparently been there for a while. The gaff didn't seem to bother him as he was eating again and .... no infection! Fish spines aren't exactly dull either.

http://i.cdn-surfline.com/fishtrack/2012/editorial/02february/tuna_gaff/03.jpg

Yall need to send my gaff and tuna back!!!:jk:

Got an email response from the owner, Jeff, after I contacted them expressing the concerns listed above.

Lo and behold, here's what his response was to my concern that PETA would use his false claims that "most caught and released fish die":

"As far as PETA, etc, we are actually working to partner with PETA right now. Harmless Hook(tm) fish hooks are a win-win for both fishermen and PETA. When fishing is made harmless to the fish, anglers win, PETA wins, and the fish win. "

Using PETA in the same sentence as Fisherman and Anglers is just not right,
:o other than stating we are diametrically opposed to any of PETA's views.

Using PETA in the same sentence as Fisherman and Anglers is just not right,
:o other than stating we are diametrically opposed to any of PETA's views.

Absolutely correct. PETA is :bashhh:

I would like to know how much grant money they received from the Department of The Interior or NOAA to fund the 'anti-microbial' fish hook. :o
Probably millions of our taxpayer dollars? Are they PETA approved and what would Bob Barker say about them?

:thumbsup:

Nauti, do you think it might be a good idea to edit the headline of your harmless hooks thread to add the fact they're in bed with PETA?

We need to get more views and input on that thread, obviously this guy is not only putting BS information out there, but now he's in bed with PETA.

FWIW, the info I posted in red are his exact words he sent in an email to me, if interested I'd be glad to fwd the email to you.

-T

PETA should be spelled PITA!

Tomfl,

I did edit my title to bring more attention to this. The only thing I can think is that the owner of Harmless Hooks is not aware of what PETA is trying to do to our sport and in my case, my livleyhood. I would have to beleive if he was aware of the history behind PETA he would not want to touch them with 10 ft pole.

Everyone is in favor of freedom of speech until someone's speech is not to their liking.

Yall need to send my gaff and tuna back!!!:jk:

Hmm, thought that was mine! About a 70lber?

JPK

bullshit.
keep yer hooks I am sorry your harmless hopeless hooks (tm) in your back yard pond. I will keep using the damn circle hooks I am forced to use by the federal gubment. They said we would see less gut hooked fish. again BULLSHIT I see the same amount of gut hooked fish if not more. If the fish is slot it comes home if it is undersized we do a minor operation to remove the hook. no floaters.... Its how you handle the fish.

They aren't really pushing for serious fishermen anyway "one size for panfish,... etc" We all know that isn't going to work, its for some woman to buy for her kids for the pond in the back yard because dad is too busy to bring them fishing.

Now how I really feel, is that it is BS, if you read some of the PETA stuff it is the same BS they blab to those that don't know any better. The whole "fishing hurts" campaign goes to show you how illogical they are with their arguments. Comparing fish hooks to human mouths or other animals. Does anyone really believe that a cobia, for example, that routinely eats shrimp spines, catfish barbs, pinfish, and blue crabs not to mention all of the other spiny things they devour, has the same oral sensory input that I have. Id like someone to throw a plate of a normal meal of a cobia in front of a PETA rep and have them dig in with no hands. Or explain to me after a weekend of live bait fishing my hands are torn up with scratches yet the fish I'm catching eat these same baits all the time without dying or constantly swimming around with an infected mouth.

The bottom line is that fish get cuts all the time and some how have survived without getting infections from things like catfish barbs that are more likely to harbor infection than my clean fish hook.

The problem is that if they have enough money and lobby the right people in washington we will all be fishing with these hooks at 1.50 a piece and one size fits all.