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What it is
A landing net is the tool that closes the deal. You can fight a fish perfectly all the way to your feet and still lose it in the last few seconds when it surges, headshakes, or rolls — and a net gives you a wide, forgiving target so you do not have to lip or hand-grab a green fish that is not ready to be held. Scoop it up, and the fight is over.
That is the obvious job. The less obvious — and arguably more important — job is protecting the fish. Done right, a net lets you keep your catch in the water, calm and supported, while you work the hook free and snap a quick photo. Done wrong, with the wrong material, a net can do more harm to a fish you intend to release than the hook ever did.
The single biggest upgrade you can make is the mesh. Rubber or rubber-coated mesh is far better than old-style knotted nylon. Take Me Fishing puts it plainly: look for tangle-free rubber mesh rather than knotted nylon string, because rubber keeps the fish’s slime coat intact — and that slime is the fish’s first defense against disease and infection. Rubber also does not snag your hooks. Anyone who has spent five minutes picking a treble out of a knotted nylon bag knows exactly why that matters. For these reasons, rubber mesh is now required at many catch-and-release fisheries.
Types to know
Trout / wading nets. Small hoop, short handle, shallow rubber basket — built to be clipped to your pack or vest and swung one-handed while you are standing in the river. Often have a wooden or carbon frame. The shallow basket means a netted fish stays low in the water rather than balled up in a deep bag.
Boat and bank nets. A bigger hoop and a longer handle, because you are reaching down from a gunwale or out over a bank. The extra reach keeps the fish farther from the hull and gives you leverage.
Telescoping and folding nets. The handle extends and collapses, or the hoop folds flat, so the net stows in a small kayak hatch or rod locker and deploys when you need it. A great space-saver — just know that collapsible designs trade a little rigidity for that convenience.
Surf and pier nets. Long, sometimes very long handles — or a drop net on a rope — to bridge the distance from a high pier or a steep beach down to the waterline.
Specialty rubber “release” nets. Fine-hole rubber mesh in a wide, shallow basket, designed first and foremost around fish safety for strict catch-and-release water.
How to choose
Three things, in order: mesh, hoop, handle.
Mesh first. Choose rubber or rubber-coated mesh unless you have a specific reason not to. Salt Strong lists mesh material as the number-one factor precisely because of the slime-coat issue. Then look at hole size: Take Me Fishing’s rule is that the holes should be small enough that your target species cannot slip through, yet not so fine that they snag delicate gills and fins. There is an old netmaker’s blessing — “may the holes in your net be no larger than the fish in it” — and it is genuinely good advice.
Hoop next. Size the hoop to your target fish. A panfish-and-trout net will not contain a redfish, and a musky net is comically oversized for a creek. The fish has to fit inside the hoop with room to spare, because you are aiming the net at a moving target.
Handle last, matched to how you fish. This is where wading and boat anglers split. Wading a trout stream? You want a short handle you can swing one-handed and clip out of the way. Netting from a boat, kayak, or up off a bank? You want a longer handle for reach and leverage. Surf or high pier? Longer still. Then weigh the extras: a floating net is cheap insurance against dropping it overboard, and a magnetic or clip release keeps it stowed and instantly grabbable on a vest or kayak.
A simple starting point for most beginners: a rubber-mesh net, hoop sized to your target, with a handle length that fits how you actually fish — short for the stream, long for the boat or bank.
Netting it right (and protecting the fish)
A net only protects a fish if you use it well. Two rules cover most of it. Net the fish head-first — fish swim forward, so a fish that bolts swims deeper into the bag instead of out of it; chasing the tail just pushes it away. And keep the net in the water. Trout Unlimited’s guidance is to minimize air exposure and let the fish rest in the submerged basket while you unhook it. Lead the fish over a net held still and just below the surface, then lift — do not stab and swipe at a fish that is still fighting. Keep a pair of pliers or forceps handy so you can back the hook out quickly while the fish stays wet, then support it upright until it kicks off on its own.
Brands worth knowing
Frabill is a long-time, widely available name with folding and fixed nets in rubber and coated mesh across freshwater and inshore sizes — a safe, affordable first net.
EGO makes fine-hole, rubber-coated nets, many with interchangeable handles and hoops and a zippered, replaceable bag, so a torn net does not mean a new net.
YakAttack builds the kayak-favorite Leverage net: rubber mesh, easy one-handed use, and a folding design — premium-priced and not a floater, but purpose-built for tight cockpits.
Fishpond and Brodin are the trout-stream standards, with handsome wood or carbon frames and shallow rubber baskets sized for wading and release.