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Floating retainer

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Hi men,

Iv had one for years , and in theory its made for barbel really , the only thing is they can be quite resistant to the flow , but in the edge where its slacker would do the job. Not sure its better that a good landing net with the water transfer through the mesh being better .

Hatter
 
Ian Grant said:
Never tried one, but looking at them like Mark i can't see how they could be better than a large landing net with a long drop, just my opinion.
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Ian, my thinking was this :

On a high bank the angle of the landing net handle is a bit steep. I tried to rest a fish in the landing net and having secured with my tether at the spreader, the end of the handle was pivoting upwards. I wound a cord around the end and staked it to the ground with bivvy pegs. It would take too long to unpeg and lift the fish out to potentially unhook / weigh / photograph so I just unhooked and let the fish go. Also, it required kneeling and almost laying on the ground and that, at night, is dodgy.

So the idea of buying a sack thingy was to allow to lower it and the fish into the water, keeping it horizontal, and thus enabling resting between each action with a minimum of time spent.

Since I bought it, apart from not catching many fish, I didn't fish a swim that would require it instead of using the net so have never used it.
 
Paul Whiteing said:
Ian, my thinking was this :

On a high bank the angle of the landing net handle is a bit steep. I tried to rest a fish in the landing net and having secured with my tether at the spreader, the end of the handle was pivoting upwards. I wound a cord around the end and staked it to the ground with bivvy pegs. It would take too long to unpeg and lift the fish out to potentially unhook / weigh / photograph so I just unhooked and let the fish go. Also, it required kneeling and almost laying on the ground and that, at night, is dodgy.

So the idea of buying a sack thingy was to allow to lower it and the fish into the water, keeping it horizontal, and thus enabling resting between each action with a minimum of time spent.

Since I bought it, apart from not catching many fish, I didn't fish a swim that would require it instead of using the net so have never used it.
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I've had that where the handle wants to lift in the air Paul, because the net frame is too high off of the water, usually i'm able to adjust the height by staking the bank stick lower into the side of the bank, which often needs me to be laying on the ground to get my hands to the net and fish, but i often do that, and it doesn't bother me, but when i can't then I've resorted to another bank stick and gripper to take the handle, but before i started doing that i just put my bag on top of the end of the handle which weighted it down.
I can't see anything wrong with these floating retaining slings though, as long as they allow adequate flow through, just that i can't see a situation where they would better serve than a spacious, and deep net, it'd be just one more thing to carry !
 
I have a Nash one, I use it to weigh fish and move them back to the water from the unhooking mate.

Great bits of kit, I can rest a fish now and get back fishing again and have the net free should I need it.
 
Just a word of warning on Zip sack/retainers which you probably are all aware of but thought no harm mentioning here
If its zipped up and floats away or fish swims away still in sack then the fish is trapped .....................sounds obvious but has happened on various carp waters with zipped sacks coming loose and fish swimming off still retained in sack.......................only to be found dead at later date
which is why retaining sacks are banned on some lakes
Probably best to not zip up then this hopefully cant happen
GaryC
 
So, these retainers are okay, but keepnets ( with more room so the fish can actually move ), are a no no. I don't get it ???
 
Derek Funcks said:
So, these retainers are okay, but keepnets ( with more room so the fish can actually move ), are a no no. I don't get it ???
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Derek we've all got our own different methods but when I do use a floating retainer.
1.Land fish
2.Place fish on zipped out retainer on top of mat to Unhook
3.Quickly photograph fish
4.Place fish back in retainer to weigh
5.Place retainer with fish back into river to recover preferably with at least one corner fixed with paracord and tied to bank.
6.Release fish only when your sure it's fully recovered.Job Done.And no I don't I walk off and leave the fish in the sling,ime with it all the time.
You don't keep a barbel in a sling for hours on end like some matchman do with keepnets even in the summer which is totally out of order.
 
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Dave Brooksbank said:
Derek we've all got our own different methods but when I do use a floating retainer.
1.Land fish
2.Place fish on zipped out retainer on top of mat to Unhook
3.Quickly photograph fish
4.Place fish back in retainer to weigh
5.Place retainer with fish back into river to recover preferably with at least one corner fixed with paracord and tied to bank.
6.Release fish only when your sure it's fully recovered.Job Done.And no I don't I walk off and leave the fish in the sling,ime with it all the time.
You don't keep a barbel in a sling for hours on end like some matchman do with keepnets even in the summer which is totally out of order.
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Thanks Dave, i understand a bit better now. 👍 But i bet a few night captures are held in slings/keepnets, until the sun rises to get a better picture. Some people just don't give a coin flip for the fish's welfare.

P.S. i don't use either, i rest it in the landing net. i only fish pegs were i'm able to do this safely. no steep banks.
 
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Forgot to add because it was more about the use of the retainer,to rest the fish in landing net once netted.
It's use is more of a gloryfied weigh sling and not for retaining fish as in carp fishing.
 
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I have it laid out on over the mat. Transfer the fish to it after a picture to weigh it and then into the margins to recover before being let go
 
I have a Saber Supra Floatation Retention Weigh Sling that i use for carping at the moment but i am going to try it for barbel when i hit the Thames a little later. £30 on Ebay and it folds down very compact.
 
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