Your fishing net can be a vital component of your fishing arsenal, whether you’re a wade fisherman like me, a boat or bank fisherman, or anything in between. When you fish with light line (like I do), being able to net a fish when it’s near allows you to land the catch. Many wade fishers carry their nets on their backs and reach behind them to retrieve them when needed. Then, the net is simply hung back on the fisherman’s shoulders when it isn’t in use. The small mesh bag is an excellent choice for trout and small mouth bass, but the nets are quite tiny, thus they aren’t very efficient on large fish.
Bank fishermen can also use nets effectively. Bank fishermen generally utilize larger nets than wade fishermen, and these nets have long handles. As the fish approaches the bank, you may use the net to capture it instead of attempting to fling it into dry land or grab it with your hands. The odds are that up to 25% of the time, fish will escape if you discharge your line into a tarpaulin or stream. Using a long pole while bank fishing will result in more fish ending up in the cooler, there’s no doubting it. I’ve seen bank fishermen’ nets with handles that were easily more than eight feet long! The length of the handle will be determined by your fishing situation.
Because the fish are hooked to a line, these fishermen must “hoist” them into the boat. Many times, this will result in the loss of fish. Nets can save you from losing a fish. Instead of hoisting the fish into the boat, netting a fish is a method to prevent losing it. Furthermore, many of the fish caught while fishing in boats are too big to “hoist” and must be netted before being lifted into the boat. Boat nets are also available in a variety of shapes, sizes, and materials. They typically have handles that are long enough to reach from the boat to the water without effort.
The bottom line is that fishing nets can be quite crucial in catching fish. Even if you’re a catch and release fisherman, netting a fish means that you handle it less, which is always beneficial. Keep these in mind and remember how much better we can make everything for the fish if we use fishing nets to relieve the stress on them.
