I have just come across a newly published research document titled "An Evaluation of Factors influencing summertime post-release mortality of bait-caught chesapeake striped bass. you can get copies frm Maryland Dept of Natural Resources Fisheries Service, Tawes State Office building, Annapolis, MD 21401. It essentially monitored fish caught on three different hooks, Straigt Shanked, British Circle and True circle. It determined that True circle hooks are most effective in reducing the number of gut hooked fish. Barbed true circle hooks are not significantly harder to remove than straight shanked hooks and do not significantly extend the time fish spends out of water during unhooking process. Whole paper is full of other detail interesting to those who are interested in Striper catch and release. Regards,