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In need of a new landing net head.

Alex Chalmers-Wilkes

Alex Chalmers-Wilkes

Senior Member
Afternoon all as mentioned above i am looking for a new landing net head. With so many out there the world is my oyster. I currently use a korum super latex net which is nice and big for what i fish for but find it alittle cumbersome as it is a solid ring of metal. Whould like a folding net or a carp style net with the spreder block in 2. I have seen korum does a circle and triangle net head was wandering if anyone has and rates them. Of couse il be going to tackle shop to look as well. Always nice to hear feedback on kit before buying thou. Tights lines all.
Alex.
 

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I’ve always preferred a solid spoon to the folding triangles personally
I find they just suit a barbels dimensions that bit better when netting up but as you’ve found out they certainly come with their own negative points too.
ive been to hell and back with net heads and I can honestly say a perfect barbel net simply does not exist.
I must of owned 90% of them and binned 90% of them not long after.
I’m gonna build my own one day when I get some time.
from my experience my favorite triangle nets are the drennan super specialist in 32 or 36 with the strong solid carbon arms.
the 36 is probably better because the mesh is larger for the river to pass through and it’s deeper too which is really important for barbel.
They are not great big carp nets either they are pretty good as far as triangles go.
be very wary about cheap triangles.
I had a spreader block crack on me on a high bank and released the net containing a large fish which shook me up a bit as she wasn’t hooked and was close to ending up a dead fish. I was very lucky to retrieve it back.
I stole an idea @Paul Whiteing did on his net and I’ll never use a triangle net again without a fail safe in place.
chances of this happening may seem slim but I can vouch it CAN happen.
 
Paul, Cliff, John...I see they come in two sizes. I assume the large is th 30 inch. Do any of you have the medium and what size is it ?
 
Bill, I have the medium but its at my house in Ludlow so can't measure it for you, but I can say that the net is very deep and it easily fits barbel up to 10b. Ive not caught anything bigger since Ive had it !

Richard, the Wychwood nets are folding pans, not triangle.
 
Thanks Richard there are some really good vaild points to buying a new net. To be honest im quite happy with what im using but would be nice to have something that will compact alittle smaller. I just take with me the bare minimum of kit these days and like everything to fit neatly and compact so im not lugging about unnecessary luggage. The solid spoon net i find a real pain sometimes but as i said it is a good bit of kit. Think il go shop about and see what they all look like set up. 👍
 
I use 4 triangular landing nets, which are 28" to 32". They are all 'home-made' from their constituent bits :
  1. Arms are all strong fibreglass/carbon fibre, chromed tipped at each end.
  2. Tensioning cord has been replaced with steel core washing line (found some nice green stuff. Very inexpensive.)
  3. Spreader blocks are mostly 100% metal. Block is connected to pole via a quick release (large) connector, and is left in place during transportation.
  4. A large snap link as fastened to net pole a few inches from spreader block, via 50lb bs braid. When net is assembled, this snap link is fastened to a large split ring, permanently located through mesh close to spreader block. This adds security when it's necessary to land fish with pole in (almost) vertical positions.
Net can be rolled up for transportation, and fits into the smallest outer pocket in Korum quivers. If I'm weighing fish, this can be done swiftly by disconnecting assembled net from pole and weighing fish whilst still in the (assembled) net.
N.b..Assembled net can also be quickly/easily be removed from pole and hung over folded chair when changing swim during roving.
 
I have used a Leeda predator net which is 32 inch diameter solid round net for over 20 years, it never breaks. Two years ago I got a folding Wychwood large one and find it so much easier to carry as said earlier the magnet also helps. Barbel over 14lb and carp to 23lb have rested in it with ease. I did find a broken Wychwood net (Spreader block smashed and arm twisted ) on a high bank and suspect someone tried to lift a good fish up straight without supporting the net. Needless to say I now have a spare mesh, the rubbish bin got the frame.
 
Most nets nowadays are built to a price. The real focus being around light weight and putting a design in place to allow you to transport it.
the assumption is that you’ll be on a nice flat ground close to the waters edge and the local land scaper has been round and cut back all the reeds and bushes, allowing you to scoop up the fish, grab the spreader and lift her out.

HA!!!!! These plonkers have clearly never been barbel fishing.

A Proper barbel net is not a hollow aluminium tube, it’s not got hinges or plastic spreaders.
imo it’s not a triangle (that’s just my own preference and respect others do like them)

it needs to cope with a degree of dead lifting a double figure fish from the connector without permanent deformation
The mesh holes should be ideally minimum half an inch to allow for proper flows.
30 inch on the longest plane is definitely the minimum and ideally The depth needs to be 50% more than that for proper resting up.
The average price of a “specialist/barbel” net is around 25-30quid which is far too cheap. I’d pay £100 happily for the right tool to do the job properly
 
From 2002 a modified 32" Spoon (12-13mm aluminium arms) with internal reinforcement) and a bit later on a heavy duty extension to the handle.

10408
10407


Made a solid spreader block out of solid aluminium which replaced the one shown on the net.

10409


Cheers
Bob
 
Many thanks Cliff, John Paul...appreciated. The large look pretty spacious John. I like the idea of the medium Cliff and if you’ve had a ten pounder in it I don’t catch too many that size...thanks again all 👍
 
Richard Isaacs said:
Most nets nowadays are built to a price. The real focus being around light weight and putting a design in place to allow you to transport it.
the assumption is that you’ll be on a nice flat ground close to the waters edge and the local land scaper has been round and cut back all the reeds and bushes, allowing you to scoop up the fish, grab the spreader and lift her out.

HA!!!!! These plonkers have clearly never been barbel fishing.

A Proper barbel net is not a hollow aluminium tube, it’s not got hinges or plastic spreaders.
imo it’s not a triangle (that’s just my own preference and respect others do like them)

it needs to cope with a degree of dead lifting a double figure fish from the connector without permanent deformation
The mesh holes should be ideally minimum half an inch to allow for proper flows.
30 inch on the longest plane is definitely the minimum and ideally The depth needs to be 50% more than that for proper resting up.
The average price of a “specialist/barbel” net is around 25-30quid which is far too cheap. I’d pay £100 happily for the right tool to do the job properly
Click to expand...
Thats the problem with everything today. Its all made from plastic that will last no more than 5 minutes. What's wrong with manufacturers making something that will last. The problem is that if they did that. Then they wont have much of a turn around on kit. When i was younger i use to buy cheap shit fishing tackle and wonder why it never lasted long. I would happily pay dpuble to price for something if it was goingto stand the test of time and more importantly the job its been designed to do in a robust way.
 
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