My New Net

Last Christmas I got a new net. It is made of wood with a soft, clear rubber netting. Wednesday I tried it for the first time. I love it! Let me mention some of the advantages and compare them with the previous net I was using.
1) It doesn’t have as much resistance in the water. The rubber mesh netting is made with larger holes so the water flows through easily. My previous net was made with soft nylon cloth and had small holes. This caused great resistance when placed under water. What this meant was while landing a fish you would have to thrust the net into the water at the last moment or the current would pull the net and your arm downstream. With the new net you can place it in the water as you get the fish close and keep it there as you get ready to slide the fish in.

2) Flies don’t get caught in the mesh. Frequently with my cloth net the dropper fly would get caught in the material as I landed a fish. Oftentimes this would even cause the leader to break as the fish would flop around. With the new net this doesn’t happen.

3) It doesn’t hold water. With the mesh net I would always make sure I rinsed it well and shook off the excess before placing it back on the magnet on the vest. Even though the nylon mesh didn’t absorb water it would still remain wet. I also worried that if the slime from the fish was left on the cloth it would smell, especially after placing it back in the car. Just one flick of the wrist after using the new net dries it off. I don’t worry about the soft rubber mesh absorbing the smell of the fish.


Note: I will be out of town (fly fishing of course) the next couple of weeks and will not be able to post my adventures as frequently until I get back. Be patient, there will be plenty of new adventures to write about when I am back in town.