I fish over here on the east side and our rivers went barbless last season. I didn't really keep tabs on how I did last year but this year I'm 17 for 19 on hookups to landed fish all on barbless hooks. (yes, probably more luck than skill I admit that!) One of the two I lost happened to be trolling a plug in the Snake river however I fish mostly jig and bobber or drift corkies and eggs on the smaller rivers here. So I really havn't seen a large increase in lost fish due to the use of barbless hooks but it sure is a lot easier to let the fish go. I do think it probably makes a difference when trolling a plug on big waters such as the Snake river. Here it may take 5-10 seconds to notice the strike and then take the rod out of the holder and set the hook, giving the fish just enough time to get free. But in waters where you pay direct attention either by feeling the strike or seeing a bobber go under I think you have little disatvantage caused by barbless hooks. You really do have to pay very close attention to playing the fish though, any slack line and it's bye bye fishy.