Landing Nets for lure fishing

[The Diamond Geezer]

Have a look at

http://www.sharpes.net/sharpes/nets_accessories.html

[Steve Burke]

Many of you will know that I designed and sold a lot of lure nets before I retired. However this didn't include a net with a folding frame as I couldn't improve on what was on the salmon market. Additionally, I prefer a non folding net as it's stronger.

 

I had special pear-shaped frames up to 36"x28" made to fit a very strong spreader block. Unfortunately the new owner of the company no longer sells them.

 

As to the mesh, I'd agree that netting with small holes, especially Micromesh, is to be avoided at all costs as hooks tangle in them. Instead I'd recommend what I called Titeweave mesh. This is still available and has the advantage that it's almost impossible to get the hooks caught in the weave of the mesh, and it's also very soft and kind to the fish. There are 3 types with different size holes.

 

The largest is called Luremesh with holes about 35mm square. This is suitable for lures with very large hooks but there was the odd report of split fins due to the large size of the mesh. It's best therefore for non-catch & release.

 

The medium-sized netting is perfect for pike fishing, is called Pikemesh and has holes approx 22mm square. This solves the split fin problem and is the mesh I still use myself.

 

The meshes (but not the frames) are still available from Nick Buss. You can contact him on 01233-634832 any afternoon or evening.

[Adz]

Rob Ward:

I've just received a QED Huntsman from Harris, they have improved the hinge that Peter Mentions. They also have a clip which enables you to hook it onto your belt or whatever.

 

The mesh is large but it would have to be one small Jack to be able to get it's head through, I allways unhook Jacks in the water anyway.

 

p.s. Polly, I think this is the one John Wilson uses!

It's not the worry of a fish slipping through the mesh, it's the potential for split fins and the possibility of damage to internal organs through inadequate support while suspended in the net that worries me.

 

Steve Burkes comment above about hooks catching in the mesh is another good point - all too easy to cause damage to the fish that way too - there is a happy medium between micromesh and the mesh you get on most gye nets and that's the one to aim for.

 

Let's face it, fish feed to stay alive, during winter months they're having a hard enough time of it anyway, so we're really doing them no favours leaving them with injuries to heal as well as finding enought to eat, regardless of how minor the injury is - this is particularly relevent on the run up to the spawning season.

 

Cheers,

[Polly]

Thanks one "n" all, few good ideas there. Looks like I'm gonna have to save a few pennies though.

Maybe next Xmas Santa may smile on me.

[The Diamond Geezer]

Rob Ward:

I've just received a QED Huntsman from Harris..The mesh is large but it would have to be one small Jack to be able to get its head through.

Rob

 

You don't say anything about the feel of the net itself. From my recollections this is an unnecessarily rough & hard mesh and I've always wondered why people use such nets when really soft ones that still resist hooks are readily and cheaply available.

 

Steve Burke did a lot of work on nets and his were beautifully soft.

 

Richard

[Peter Waller]

DG, the arguements for and against the Huntsmen net have raged on and off on various forums for years now! I have a Calibre net but rarely, if ever, use it now. What put me off was that the very soft mesh was breathed into the rakers of a pike and I had a devil of a job freeing the fish from the net. The Huntsman net is hard but I don't class it as rough. I am convinced it is fish friendly in that it removes minimal slime. A soft net tends to wrap a fish in a slime removing mesh. What I don't like about the Huntsmen is the size of the mesh, I have had even a reasonable fish catch its head in the mesh. Unless there are problems with exposed hooks I will normally lift a fish from the water by hand, but I do play a fish into a net because the net seems to subdue a fish quicker than playing it into sufficient submission for hand landing. I do now use a mesh somewhere between the extremes of the Calibre & Huntsmen nets, but I haven't a clue who makes it!

 

Onto the arguement that large meshes don't support internal organs. I have received a degree of ridicule from one or two leading pikers, in Pike & Predators, after suggesting that holding a pike only by its chin offers no support whatsoever to a fish that was designed to be supported throughout its length by water, thus putting its internal organs at risk. Simple common sense dictates that there is room for concern on this matter. But Nev Fickling knows better than anyone, as we all know , and James Holgate was a fish monger and both think my concern is out of place! But I do think that using a large mesh is taking this concern to extreme. BUT, I stand to be corrected on that one. The issue re split fins is perfectly valid though.

 

[ 08. January 2003, 06:01 PM: Message edited by: Peter Waller ]

[ginger]

I am almost sure that's what I like, a positive attitude in an angler!!! Should I be at Swanton on Sunday to witness the new and ultra successful Polly and Little Bruv?

[The Diamond Geezer]

Peter Waller:

DG, The Huntsman net is hard but I don't class it as rough. What I don't like about the Huntsmen is the size of the mesh, I have had even a reasonable fish catch its head in the mesh. I do now use a mesh somewhere between the extremes of the Calibre & Huntsmen nets, but  I haven't a clue who makes it!

Pity, Peter, because I'd love to know where you got it from!

 

DG

[Peter Waller]

quote:

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Originally posted by The Diamond Geezer: [/qb]

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Pity, Peter, because I'd love to know where you got it from!

DG [/QB]

AA Angling on the Ellough Road at Beccles in Suffolk.

[The Diamond Geezer]

PW

Cheers

DG