What net?

[emc]

Thinking of getting a new net in time for the End of Season Stravaig. My current one is too big and cumbersome for traipsing over rough ground and over distances. Was thinking of a hand net. Any one got any recommendations or caveats?

[Highlander]

By hand nets I take it you mean these little wooden tennis racquet's type sometime called scoop nets.
If you are wading in a river or know that you can wade fairly deep in a loch they are fine.For bank fishing on a loch a waste of time. I know some people are not keen on collapsible nets but they are idea for bank fishing. I like the ones with a rigid net & if it telescopes all the better. Having said that mine is a totally collapsible type & whilst it has a slightly longer handle than norm suits me. I might add it is a Sharpes Strong make & is over 40 years old. Has had three or four replacement nets but as good as the day it was bought. So partly for that reason I would recommend a Sharpes make or failing that Whitlock make good nets. Not cheap but will last. There are plenty cheaper out there & though they will probably not last as long are more than adequate.
Plenty on here to choose from.
http://www.uk.best-price.com/search/landing/query/landing+nets/s/google/koid/2782246364/?query=Landing+Nets&gclid=CNv-oteWg7ICFcfKtAodtH4AiQ
ABU, Shakespeare & Daiwa I would suggest. Also these I hear are pretty good
http://www.sportfish.co.uk/solvkroken-telescopic-nets.html

Tight Lines

[deergravy]

I carry a Shakespeare Glider scoop net everywhere, 17" frame, weighs nothing.
You can get them for about a tenner.
Maybe the most useful fishing accessory I have!

[Billy]

I usually carry a wooden scoop net with me for two reasons.

Its light and it floats.

I was fishing in a Welsh Llyn in the mid nineties and I had a small collapsible net. I was wading in about 6 inches of water and was playing a fish. This was in the days before lanyard/retractors etc.
I open the net and put in down at my feet ready for the fish when i had it close. I fought the fish for a few minutes and brought it in but when I put my hand into the water for the net it had gone.

I released the fish and searched all over the place but it was gone. A mystery and over the years I always wondered if I had laid it over a fish or maybe even a crayfish.

Billy

[Wildfisher]

I usually carry a wooden scoop net with me for two reasons.

I use one of those most of  the time too except where I expect there is a chance of a very good fish. The one I have will take a fish of up to  3lb easily and is very much lighter and easier to carry than my weigh net. When hill loch fishing it fits into my rucksack for the walk in. For other times, like in NZ or boat fishing, I take  the MacLean weigh net.

[deergravy]

Like Andy says, you can fit a big trout into a surprisingly small net - it's always much better to have a net than not, when you get a biggie.
Bitter experience has taught me this - don't leave home without one.
Kinder on big fish, too. You don't have to play them till they're half dead just to get the fly out of their jaws.

[Malcolm]

I don't use a net except from a boat or where the fish is over about 6 lbs or so. I do use much heavier tackle than most on here though and play my fish extremely hard and have a lot of confidence in my tackle. I wouldn't be the same if I was ever to switch to 3lb Stroft leaders!

My own thought is if you do take a net make it a decent size but I note some experienced fiahermen here manage to use smaller nets for better fish. My own technique is  just run my hands down the leader grab the fly and flip the fish off in the water or use a Ketchum release which I think is a great tool. 

[east wind]

I like to have a net on larger streams and rivers. Carried a wooden scoop net for years and was happy enough until the mesh went and without much thought bought another online that had thick mesh with very small holes.

That's when it went tits up. It was like a mini drogue, when I tried to net something I slid backwards a few inches and when I was about to net a few nice trout it seemed to steer past them by itself and I had a few disasters.

Always trying to reduce the margins for error I got thinking. Why try to squeeze a good trout into a thing that size? and why all this full stretching out each way with one rod arm and one net arm?

So I bought a good quality super light folding net with a head about 19 inches. A small modification and it now sits folded high and out the way on the D Ring of my vest. It's light enough to be held by a magnetic lanyard and can be reached and deployed instantly.

It would do for lochs as well if I ever thought there was a danger of me catching one of the bigger boys.

Unfortunately I've not really had the chance to try it out in anger yet. Up yours weather.

[Wildfisher]

It was like a mini drogue, when I tried to net something I slid backwards a few inches and when I was about to net a few nice trout it seemed to steer past them by itself and I had a few disasters.

these black "fish friendly"  meshes are terrible for  that in fast water.

[Malcolm]

these black "fish friendly"  meshes are terrible for  that in fast water.

Seconded - and as an aside if you ever have to net a salmon on your own with a long handled net you recognise just how awkward these are. The net handle on mine is about 2.75ft long and that is as long as I can manage.