Barb Plier

These pliers are a lot more heavy duty than I was expecting. I was using a cheaper pair of pliers to mash barbs - these are much more substantial. Heavier than I was expecting too. They should last a long time and should have no problem mashing thousands of barbs, if not more. I took the lanyard off, but it’s nice that one is included.

Like the description says this is a plier for flattening barbs. The size/design of the jaws is suitable for a wide range of hook sizes. I've used my plier with sizes 16 through 2/0 but I'm sure they would work fine with a few sizes lower smaller or higher. The spring-loaded jaws make for easy one-handed operation at the tying bench or on the water. And wrist lanyard (which can be tighted by a sliding rubber ring) ensures that you don't drop them in the stream or overboard. This plier is a quality, well-designed tool offered at a reasonable price.

I have had mine for a couple years now & wouldn't be without them. The spring opening smooth jaws make barb mashing easy & they just "pop" open after mashing, thus clearing the hook point from unwanted contact/damage. Some forceps are too narrow to work well with larger (size 10 & larger) hooks, but not this tool...the jaws are wide enough that they do very well on larger hooks. Just another well designed & well made Dr Slick tool. I would certainly buy it again.