Rubber mesh landing nets

sam vimes · Aug 24, 2015

When using rubber meshed landing nets I've noticed a distinct tendency for fish to go absolutely nuts on contact. It can make it rather more difficult to unhook a fish than it needs to be. It's got so obvious that I've all but given up using them. I'm convinced that fish are calmer in a standard soft mesh.

Anyone else noticed anthing along the same lines?

terry m · Aug 24, 2015

I use the rubberised mesh nets for piking to avoid treble tangles and have not noticed any change in disposition of fish when compared to normal mesh. Mind you apart from the odd carnivorous chub, I have only had pike in that net.

tigger · Aug 24, 2015

I have one rubber mesh net, quite old and batterd now and i've had lots of fish in it over the years...I can't say i've noticed the fish behave any different in it than in a normal material net.

law · Aug 25, 2015

I've got one of the Fox Predator ones. Pike are fine in it, and recently I've been using it on the rivers and have had chub, bream, and big perch in it and they haven't been any different to normal mesh nets

Tee-Cee · Aug 25, 2015

Now this is complete guesswork and more like thinking aloud...

With normal mesh, any decent angler would have it ' wet and cold ' already prior to landing a fish, whereas one of rubber, simply because it is rubber, would always be ' dry ' so might it retain some warmth ( or heat if in the sun ) from laying on the bank which, as it comes in contact with a fish, causes some discomfort, in that any retained heat hasn't dissipated fully ( before that 'contact ' )?

Feel free to have a good laugh........my shoulders are broad !

arthur2sheds · Aug 25, 2015

Tee-Cee said:
Now this is complete guesswork and more like thinking aloud...

With normal mesh, any decent angler would have it ' wet and cold ' already prior to landing a fish, whereas one of rubber, simply because it is rubber, would always be ' dry ' so might it retain some warmth ( or heat if in the sun ) from laying on the bank which, as it comes in contact with a fish, causes some discomfort, in that any retained heat hasn't dissipated fully ( before that 'contact ' )?

Feel free to have a good laugh........my shoulders are broad !

Nowt to laugh at... tis a fair comment... I've seen it meself and I put it down to the same thing.... hence my net is regularly dipped in the margins to keep it wet and cool... another way to try and forestall a nutty fish is to get the net in the water well before you land it and it'll cool it down... that said though I had a fish in an older soft mesh net a while back and for a Bream it went mental... so go figure... perhaps fish are just generally bolshier nowadays.... they'll be wearing peaked caps backwards and saying "innit" a lot with a pseudo west indian accent cos dey is "Gangsta bruv"

:wh

mg:

theartist · Aug 25, 2015

Slightly off topic but I always got the feeling rubber mesh is slightly harsher on the fins than other nets as the mesh is usually slightly larger. Hopefully i'm wrong as it's harder to find a decent sized net that isn't rubber nowadays.

S-Kippy · Aug 25, 2015

I haven't noticed this meself. One thing I have noticed though is that once wet my rubber net seems to lose all its rigidity and behave pretty well like a "normal" net. I wasn't sure about these rubber jobbies until I tried one but I'm sold on them now. Just keep it wet.

I'm using the Grey's btw. I like it a lot and I am not easily impressed.

pointngo · Aug 25, 2015

I've not found the rubber nets make the fish anymore lively than standard mesh, although mine are all predator nets.

Although off topic; mesh size is important as too big a mesh will split fins.

Keith M · Aug 25, 2015

I haven't noticed any abnormal fish behaviour using rubberised mesh with any of my landing nets however I used to have an early rubberised spoon net which was quite stiff and harsh compared to more modern nets, this older spoon net ended up in the bin.

Keith

Rubber mesh landing nets

sam vimes

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terry m

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tigger

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law

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Tee-Cee

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arthur2sheds

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theartist

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S-Kippy

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pointngo

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Keith M

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