Super small C&R brook trout net

[dcoffey]

Greetings,

I am looking for a super small net for brook trout. Skin/gill friendly netting and wooden in construction. Any leads? I remember seeing one somewhere that had a bent handle and was really small.

Donny

 

[RCFetter]

They're not cheap.

$180

Nets That Honor Fish

Another company, Blue Ribbon Nets, has a size chart:

Blue Ribbon Size Chart

They start at about $80.


This company has really small nets:

Custom Furniture, Custom Fishing Nets

 

[pcray1231]

Ok, gotta ask. Why would you need a net for brookies?

My brookie trips represent the places where a net would be the most hassle (lots of walking and woods and brush) and would be the least useful (small fish). Seriously though the fight lasts about 3 seconds and you just lift them right up.

 

[ryansheehan]

A cooler works better.

 

[steveo27]

My "small" net consists of an old cheapy generic brand cloth/mesh net from any old sporting goods store. I redid the netting with a rubber basket off of Ebay. The opening on it is roughly 14" x 8" so its not really a gemmie net but I use this a my small stream net. All said and done, I probably have 30$ into it.

 

[Swattie87]

ryansheehan wrote:
A cooler works better.

They make those little cast iron skillets too for streamside Gemmie fries.

In all seriousness for the OP, the net just becomes more of a pain than it's worth. Gets stuck on everything and inevitably broken. Just wet your hand and scoop em. A wet hand is way more cost effective than those nets.

The only times I wish I had a net while Brookie fishing are when I turn up the rogue big Brown that's been eating Brookies. Even then, it's a rare enough occurrence (maybe just once or twice per year) that it doesn't justify the PITA the net is to carry on small streams all the other time.

 

[dcoffey]

Thanks gentlemen for the feedback. My reasoning is that ultimately when you "raise" them out of the water they will come in contact with rocks and debris. I just wanted to try to eliminate beating them up.

 

[McSneek]

Not wood framed but one of those little green aquarium nets should do the job. They seem to handle guppies, betters, neon tetras, etc. well and since a gemmie is about the same size...

 

[steveo27]

This may be worth a look - http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11414990&cp=4406646.70516396.4414792.92831326&categoryId=70825916

Seems small enough, and its already a rubber basket

 

[lestrout]

Not inexpensive and very artsy in a soulful way are the specialized Tenkara nets. https://shop.flyfishsd.com/products/tenkara-usa-net?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=googlepla&variant=339276745&gclid=CjwKEAjwv7HABRCSxfrjkJPnrWgSJAA45qA2DhDcijBri_j9HWabrG59PSTb2W25JTsDptUjLXZGXxoCAAzw_wcB

The design is pretty ergonomic for bushwacking.

 

[BrooksAndHooks]

get chris at out of the riffle woodworks to build you one, you can check him out on IG and he has an etsy shop I believe too. He can build you one, won't be dirt cheap, but very nice quality. I would get one that is small enough to hike with, but big enough for the occasional big brown you may bump into. I like carrying a net because I have ended up landing some 15-18"+ browns on brookie or mixed streams. Unless you know for sure there are none, but most streams have a small token population of browns if they aren't dammed up somewhere.

 

[pcray1231]

My reasoning is that ultimately when you "raise" them out of the water they will come in contact with rocks and debris.

Then you ain't raisin them fast enough. Or too fast (flinging over your head and back down on the ground behing you, lol).

Rod over water, lift straight up. Lift them by the line. No need to beach them on rocks like they were a steelhead or something.