Roy Sarow lives in Evansville, Wisconsin and, although he doesn't let on, he is one of the very best fly fishers I know. We fish together often and I have learned a lot from him.

Of course some of it has been what not to do. Like the time we stayed till dark on the lake at Belleville and Roy caught his popper on one of the stumps still projecting over a submerged woods.

I paddled over so he could stand up and reach across to retrieve the popper. Neither of us noticed the mallard nesting in the top of the stump.

You have to give that duck credit. It didn't panic until Roy leaned directly over it. Then it blasted off like a proverbial bat from the nether regions. Roy came backwards just as fast. The air was full of whirring wings and waving arms. You'd have thought some one had left a dynamite charge in the stump.

Luckily Roy landed in the canoe. I will say one thing, there's nothing wrong with his heart.

Or the time he was making a fly rod and mixed a whole can of powdered resin glue with water so it would be ready if he made more fly rods.

Some time ago, Roy wrote a short monograph about fly fishing for a Trout Unlimited publication. It explained his philosophy well and probably that of many anglers.

In it he mentioned that when he had been on a bowling team or competed on the rifle range, he and the other participants were assigned handicaps so they were matched as evenly as possible. He reminded us that in pool games players often were spotted balls for the same reason. This made the games even more fun and he felt the same way about fishing.

He explained that he considered fly fishing a little more challenging than other forms of angling. He used rods he made himself, flies he tied on small hooks and light leader tippets. He liked to use single hooks with the barbs pinched down so fish were less likely to be injured and had to be more carefully played. These were his ways of spotting points for the fish.

Roy likes to eat fish and usually takes enough for a meal, but he does return many more than he keeps. I think it has been ten years since he kept a trout.

He is a staunch advocate of voluntary catch and release and barbless hooks. They are hard to find in stores and when available are usually only in a very limited range of styles. His fishing kit always contains pliers for pinching down barbs.

I have no argument with Roy's ideas but I did hold back a long time on the barbless bit. It always seemed more fun to land a fish and put it back than to have it escape on the way to the net.

Then one time Roy happened to say, "I believe I lose fewer fish since I started pinching the barb down. I think the hook bites deeper and holds better. Of course you can't let them have much slack.

I have learned he was right about this too. There are many advantages to a barbless hook and really no disadvantages that a little care in playing won't compensate for.

You will net more big fish using a pinched down barb because a conventional hook has trouble penetrating to the bend in their tough mouths. To use an often-heard simile, "It's easier to drive a nail than a wedge.

Here's an example. Roy and I were fishing Mt. Vernon creek some time back. It was early dark and I happened to glance at my watch just as a good fish took my nymph. The fly was small and the tippet very light so all I could do was give line as needed and hope. In and out of snags and through two pools that fish took me. Sometime later I netted it a 20 inch male brown. I checked the time. I had played the fish, or it had played me, a little over 30 minutes.

All I could think of was getting it somewhere there was light enough for picture taking. A quick tug broke the leader tippet and still carrying it in the net (it was too large for the creel) I started for the car.

Roy was waiting and when he saw me approaching in the dark, he said, "What in the world have you got there, a big carp?"

We made a quick stop at a friend's house to show off our prize and after dutifully admiring it, he asked, "What did you catch it on?" "I'll show you." I opened the fish's mouth and the nymph dropped out on the driveway. It had been just caught without penetrating all that time the fish was on and had fallen free when pressure on the line was released.

Quite often I've netted other good fish after they were played for some time and had the fly fall free in the net as soon as tension on the line was relaxed. It has rarely happened since I have been pinching barbs down.

Remember the last time you lost a good fish part way to the net? The chances are it was caught in gristle and didn't penetrate enough to hold.

Fatal injuries to fish usually occur during handling. With a flattened barb you can remove a well hooked fly with minimum handling. Usually it takes just one hand to reach into the net and back the hook out.

I have always liked to wade and dry fly lakes that hold trout. It seems flies that float nice and high are the best producers. Large brook trout, especially, take and then bore for the bottom. Hooks light enough to float properly are inclined to either straighten or break at the bend (depending on how they are tempered) when I try to bring those fish back up.

When the point catches and doesn't penetrate, a great deal of leverage is exerted on the bend. Squeezing down the barb alleviates this problem.

I like to use a net. It saves a lot of fish handling and when it is necessary to grasp one, holding it through the wet net mesh eliminates the need for squeezing.

Don't release a tired fish until it has completely revived. Support it gently in the water and move it back and forth to help it breathe.

Never put your fingers or anything else in its gills. If you want to weigh it before releasing, hoist the net with the fish inside. And one more thing; Chuck Wineland stopped in just as I was finishing this. He said, "Better tell them to do the barb flattening before you tie the fly. You can break the hook doing this and it's discouraging after you put a lot of work on the fly." Roy would agree with this too.