Question for NIGHT fisherman

I was talking with a net maker at the Madison Fishing Expo about cat/muskie nets and walleye nets too.

They will be coming out with a net using LEDs built into the net for night fishing. Although I don’t have a retail price, I’m guessing they will be a bit more than a regular net.

You may have seen the large net with a small led flashlight mounted on the handle…this is not what I’m referring to here. In fact, that style could be duplicated with a little duct tape and the LED lights that Dean sells at Everts for under $8.

The net I’m talking about would have LED’s built right INTO the net.

I’m wondering what kind of interest is out there for a lighted net?

You’re comments good or bad are welcome. Thanks!

I think it’d be neat, but I am not too likely to go out and buy one. Like you mentioned, you can just tape one to an existing net, and I pretty much always have a headlamp on anyways.

Now if I was in the market for a new net anyways and this LED net was well built and priced right, I might consider one.

Hmmm, I said the same thing as Ryan, I guess I didn’t hit “submit”, but anyways…..ditto.

How about an LED wriststrap for Larry

Some thoughts as the morning coffee kicks in:

RED led lights would be better than white. Those big piggie eyes sure do flip out when they get an eyefull of a bright white light, and you sure don’t need them doing the death dance with a rod length of line out. And we don’t need to illuminate 100 square feet of water, just have enough light to get the fish steered into the net.

Batteries would have to be easy to replace and in a quite waterproof assembly.

It would be nice to have the on/off switch on a part of the handle that you don’t hold while netting. Wouldn’t want your hand to slip and turn the light off/on when you least expect it.

The engineering and the price would have to be pretty good to beat the old standby of a red-filtered flashlight duct-taped to the handle.

Good points guys…and right on with the red leds Jason.

How about a light that turns on automatically when you lock the net handle in place. The net I have now has the “easy lock” thing that you just have to pull out, and it automatically snaps in place, so I keep it folded, until the time comes.

I guess the only problem with that is when I fish alone, and lock it in place for the day. Maybe an override switch?

Somebody, Million Dollar Idea???

Brian,

Pug asked me to have you request a rainbow colored lens.

Interesting idea……
It would have to be top quality.
Though the lighting might be a little redundant between boat lighting and headlamps, and one more thing that could possibly fail at an inopportune time.

My only fear would be that the fish could see the lights coming and it might spook them like Jason mentioned with the walleyes. I know that at times with the big fish, sometimes you need to speed scoop the fish before he gets that chance to break away. The lighted net might take away that element of surprise.

One big pro I can think of is using the LEDs after your fish has been netted and boated and your line is hopelessly tangled in the net. Then it would be worth its weight in gold so you can see and get the tangle out.

Now keep in mind that this is coming from a guy who spooks fish by putting his paw in thier mouths, and pulling them into the boat.

Lots of preferences in what makes a good light. I can see for walleyes not wanting brightness. When catfishing, I like as bright as I can get on the net. I want to see how far apart their eyes are as far away as I can. That way if it’s a big one, my buddy can pull the anchors up.

I’m not sure I would buy a net for the LED lights. I still haven’t found the exact net I want for my boat that will do the job of handling a big fish and still be capable of being stowed away until needed.

I’ve come almost full circle on lights. My goal now is to light up the entire boat and out a good 10 feet so I can see exactly what is going on. I don’t want to lose the fish of a lifetime because I couldn’t see. I still wear a headlamp because that allows me to direct pinpoint light where I need it without encumbering my hands. I have my boat rigged with a power inverter and I run AC lights that light up the night out a good 10 feet around the boat. I use the new low wattage florescent amber bug lights to hold down the bugs and to reduce the power demand on my batteries. I’ve been doing this the last two years and the lights have not scared away fish nor seem to hurt my fishing in any way. It sure is nice to be able to see when you need to.

Steve,

If the light output of your old boat was any indication, your pontoon will look like the Titanic coming down the St. Croix

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Brian,
Pug asked me to have you request a rainbow colored lens.

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What about small LEDs all around the rim of the net so you can easily see where the center is? With most nets having black lips and black net that are hard to see even with a miner lamp on, wouldn’t that help?

By the way, I would prefer rose tinted lens.

They have net lights now available.

I can see the advantage of having the lights built in.. but they better put it on the *perfect* net if they want me to consider buying one, and not have the price too crazy.

I wouldnt want red LED’s for light, the brighter the LED’s, the better. Its much easier to get a fish in the net you can see coming, or at least see the line coming to get an indication of where the fish is at. Red doesnt give off a very significant amount of light.

I would rather have a light that clamps on I guess.. that way it could be used on different nets, or the right net for me.

Just curious how many of you guys actually have lost a flatty at the boat lately because of a bad net job?? Because of not having enough light on the fish??

During my time on the water… NEVER. And if it does happen, that netman will never be in my boat again.

I’ve actually fished with a few guys who don’t want anything to do with light when a fish gets close to the boat. You turn a light on, they yell at you! That night made for some interesting netting but we didn’t lose any thank god!

I’ll pass on the net lights and continue to use my headlamp. It was hard enough finding a quality net I liked and I’m going to stick with that one.

I guess I would have to see it work. I have always had enough light, from the stern light. Then again, I nightfish walleyes, that have there own built in lights (eyes) to keep track of them even 3 or 4 feet down.

big g

Unquestionable there will be a differance for walleye fishing and cat guys.

I normally have the third person in the boat hold the spotlight when netting a cat.

Net storage is always a problem with the big nets.

Good feed back! Anymore walleye guys out there?

Brian I sent you a PM

I’ve only ever used a net once on a flathead – when I had a 32 pounder on my 8 pound test mono worm rig. Nets are just something to trip over (until you get a huge walleye on, then they’re something to dig out). Don’t like the lighted net idea regardless. Shine ’em with the head lamp and let the net take ’em by suprise, I’d say…

I seen all the talk about the lighted nets and had to respond. I do a bunch of night fishing for both catfish and walleye. I looked at the new cummings lighted nets and wow $70.00 a bit high for me. I also didn’t like the fact that it used white light and wasn’t very bright and if the light goes bad you have to replace the whole net. I ended up buying the new Netlight that attaches to the handle of the net you have for like $15.00. I like it very well as it uses green leds so they are very bright but yet don’t seem to spook the walleye. You can remove the light from the net clip in seconds using the thumb screw and use the light for any purpose around the camp or the boat it is also waterproof and it floats. When you are ready to store your net you simply remove it no tape to cut everytime you break down your net handle. The Net Light can also be attached to your rod handles for light when catfishing I have done this and it worked great. For my money the Netlight is the way to go.

Bigun

If the cats came to the boat with l.e.d.’s it would make things much easier.

My brother, they have fins and no opposable thumbs. How would they hold them?

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I still haven’t found the exact net I want for my boat that will do the job of handling a big fish and still be capable of being stowed away until needed.

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Steve-Please check out these nets, YoNets .
These nets fold dowm very compact and are sure to be strong and big enough for your big cats. If you were closer, I would love to demonstrate how mine works. In under 6 seconds you go from a folded net to an open net all with 1 hand. If you get a chance to check out the link, let me know what you think about the nets please