when fishing the river the other day,was aproached by a gentleman telling me my small landing net was banned and needed to be changed its a shakespear one shaped like a tennis racket it is probs 4years old was given it by a friend.
is he right do i need a certain type to fish the river?

your thoughts please.


terry

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"It is only the inexperienced and thoughtless who find pleasure in killing fish for the mere sake of killing them. No sportsman does this." - W.C. Prime, 1888

As long as you have knotless mesh then your net complies with EA rules; those little American style tennis racquet nets are now quite popular for river fishing when wading, following Mike Weaver's promoting them in various books and articles.

If there is a specific rule of the particular association, club or riparian owner of the beat you fished, banning nets below a certain size, then that's a different matter.

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"In wine there is wisdom. In beer there is strength. In water there is bacteria." - German proverb
JH based near Southampton

Hi bidtel

It sounds like a local rule to me not a national one. Short handle nets are suitable for streams and rivers and long handle ones for stillwater lakes and reservoirs.The most important thing is that nets must be of knotless type. T haven't heard of anyone banning the tennis racket type but I stand to be corrected.

BK

They could do with banning...

richard

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Who resides on the right bank of the Derbyshire Wye and is lulled to sleep each night by the mutterings of a weir, dreaming that "When the rivers and their inhabitants come first, we ALL win..."

Not sure I agree with that Richard, I own both types of net (as I'm sure many do) and they are both very good at different things. If I am bank fishing I will take my long handled net for the reach and if wading will take my scoop net as it is so much more convenient for that style of fishing.

Dan

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http://eclecticangler.blogspot.com/

I agree with you Daniel, I use a Snowbee 3-in-1 net with two alternative handles for my river fishing that serves me well whether wading or fishing off the bank....

Snowbee 3-in-1 Trout Landing Nets

One thing I will say though is that small sizes of those tennis racquet jobs can leave you somewhat underpowered if the river fish of your dreams comes along - in fact that's why I bought the Snowbee, although I did manage to finally land the FOMD, 3-12 from the River Piddle.....

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"In wine there is wisdom. In beer there is strength. In water there is bacteria." - German proverb
JH based near Southampton

Amen-on hindsight I wish I'd taken my extending handle net as well on Sunday as even if I had got my big fish to the dam wall at Barnsfold I doubt I'd have managed to lift it up the wall without breaking off as my net is far too short-my pike one would have done the trick, though. I'm surprised though as I thought small tennis racket landing nets would be ideally suited to rivers and tiny streams.

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The scenery in the Grand Coulee area of eastern Washington was worth the air fare on its own!

I don't understand. Are you against nets entirely? Or is there something specific against just these short handle nets?

As long as it's knotless, IMO any net is infinitely better than no net. It has become faddish in recent years for some anglers to take a holier-than-thou status by claiming that using only bare hands is better for the fish. Also, they claim that bare handing is just as fast as using a net. I'm calling BS on both claims.

There is absolutely no way that trying to bare-hand a fish is faster than using a net. It isn't even close. And landing a fish faster and with less stress placed on the fish is always going to be better for the fish.

As I said, as long as the net is knotless, you're better with it than without it. A long handle net may be better yet, especially for the car boot angler who can park within sight of his fishing. For others (myself included) who don't want to be burdened with a long net because we walk long distances, it's vastly better to have a compact net than to have no net at all.

Grouse

Hear, hear, Grouse well said.

BK

Dry Fly 'Expert': Landing Net

Explains the advantages of the long handled net. There are no disadvantages of any significance. Short handled nets are almost as bad to the fish as "bringing the fish to hand".

richard

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Who resides on the right bank of the Derbyshire Wye and is lulled to sleep each night by the mutterings of a weir, dreaming that "When the rivers and their inhabitants come first, we ALL win..."