If you fish an area that has some grass, give your net a good rinse and then run it over grass which seems to brush out a lot of the slime.
Thanks for that, I had not thought about running the net over the grass to brush the slime out. This was a case of laziness rather than application. I had rinsed and shaken out as much of the slime as I could before leaving the lake. I normally leave the net in the back of the van overnight and deal with it the next day. This time I had caught a lot of bream, which I don't usually do, and had given the net a good coating of slime that had been left to bake in a closed tin box in direct sunlight. The van was too hot to touch on the sun side! It must have been 50 or 60ºC inside, if not more! On opening the van the stink was like nothing else I have ever smelt, it was enough to make me retch. I opened the back doors as well as the side door and the smell quickly dissipated.
I propped the net up in the garden and let the sun do its job for a few hours, by which time it has set sold. I gave it a soak in a sink full of warm water and washing up liquid, then washed it through with clean water. Left it out to dry. It dried stiff as a board and still stunk! In the end I washed it in a sink full of hot water with about a tablespoon of washing powder, left it to soak overnight before thoroughly rinsing it in cold water. Success! It is now nice and soft again and has no unpleasant odour whatsoever.
I am not a fan of bream fishing, or at least not the slime that goes with it
Ralph.