Net

[Bfish]

Anybody have any suggestions for a general purpose net?

I need one that plays well with crankbaits for trolling crappie, but also compact enough to use for dipping stocker trout out of the HI from the 2-man driftboat. 

[Steve H]

Do you want rubber or woven?

[bee]

I have some the $200-300 boat nets given to me by friends, but use a long handled walmart aluminum net all the time from my boat .  rubber bag.  Some of the expensive fly fishing nets have more drag on them  due to width of the Y and handle than does the aluminum.  IMO

[Bfish]

Coated for crankbaits, rubber works too but tends to be really heavy. 

So either a "good" coated woven, but more than likely going rubber.  Leaning hard towards ego net. 

[Steve H]

Walmart of all places has some great oversized rubber nets that are hearty. Let me see if if I can get a picture of the one hanging in my garage.

[grumpy]

FISHPOND or WOLF MOON although i have 2 Wally nets that are hard to beat

[bee]

   those expensive fish ponds are sadly the ones i leave at home in favor of the Wallys.  I wish some entity  would make one with a long aluminum handle, and a deeper bag and the bag is made or a lightly rubberized material with less strand thickness than the typical rubber bags.  And also with a larger square in the mesh...all leading to less drag when sweeping for a fish with the net.  The mesh nets are lighter but I always seem to have to work to get small fly hooks untangled or extracted from the mesh.

[Bfish]

Hmm,

I need to take some measurements, as those Fishpond replacement bags just might work on my existing cheap aluminium framed net.  Best of both, lightweight and strong enough frame, with a nice rubber , nonfouling net.

[owengrad]

Bfish:
I have used www.jannsnetcraft.com for several replacement net bags with great results. I replaced some Fishpond net bags with their generics for about 1/3 the $$. The downside is that I contributed to the worker barons in China!

Jim P

[icthus]

Not sure if this was a real question, so I am going to answer it with kindness....

It's a net, who cares....  It's a commodiate, and a $200-$500 net does nothing to anhance the ability to catch the alluded Caney Fork brown trout or the sligh rainbow trout, or maybe the "grey ghost" that run every spring.

Dan Powers, the great Caneybuff, gave me a net for my first boat and it was a rubber net with a alluminum handle, guess what.... it not only works in trout streams but saltwater too, 13 years later.


Commonsense for your $'s and cents,
Pal

[MikeA]

Nets to fishermen are like shoes to women. You can never have too many. I fish all sorts of ways now. Wade fishing for Trout I usually don't require a net at all. Boat fishing for larger trout I like a good rubber boat net. Trout are more sensitive to rope style nets than other fish so I try to protect them as much as possible. That rubber boat net certainly won't work for Musky fishing, fly or conventional. So I have a giant cabelas net for that. Bass fishing on Center Hill and Chick I prefer my Rubber boat net because I'm usually using gear. Getting three of those new and totally insane treble hooks on the Rapala jerk baits out of a rope net would take you all day, and 34 stitches in your hands.   

[Bfish]

Well I ended up buying a cheaper one new, hopefully the rubber coating last and the extension and folding mechanism keeps working.  I will save my current and much larger and deeper rope net for stripers and catfish days and replace the net when it croaks (pretty soon). 

https://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/h2o-xpress-stowaway-landing-net-#repChildCatid=9982327