net question

[baitstealer]

I am thinking about getting a pier net. Can anyone tell me how well they work and give me an idea as to which is the best to purchase.

6991

[JakeF]

Sorry,,, I never have, nor ever will, use a pier net so I can't help you with selection.

I do have a question though, that perhaps someone who uses this contraption can answer at the same time. I do not mean to hi-jack your thread, but if you're going to buy one of these, you need to know the answer to this question as well, so the answer to my question might as well go along with the answer to yours.

I'll set up the question with a scenario that you WILL encounter if you do this. Let's say you catch a fish just under keeper size (or even a keeper sized fish that you want to release), and the fish, as usual, is tired out a bit after the fight. You finally get the fish into the net and lift it up onto the pier. By the time you get the fish unhooked, it is even less lively, and really needs to be put back in the water by hand and worked back and forth to reoxygenate and regain it's strength before it would be able to swim away on it's own.

Here's the question. How will you revive and successfully release that fish if your only means of getting it back down to the water is with the net, or even worse, a nose dive?

[JakeF]

BTW,, don't take the question the wrong way, I mean no disrespect to reputable pier and bridge fishermen. It's just something that has always bothered me to the point that I will not fish from a spot where I cannot physically reach the water if I need to revive a fish. If you've got an efficient and effective way to do that with a bridge net, I'm all ears.

There is a bridge near me, across a tidal estuary, that is popular with fishermen. There is between 20 and 30 feet between the water and the top of the rail. 8 or 9 times I've been a hundred yards downstream from this bridge in my kayak as a school of fish moved through and the bridge guys started hooking up. Most fish were less than keeper size, so there were a lot of fish being released with bridge nets. The next thing I know I've got fish floating past me belly up, still alive, but barely. I was able to get to most of them in my kayak and revive them to the point that they could swim off, but they were very stressed by that time. Like I said, I've had to do this 8 or 9 times. A couple things really pissed me off about this. First, that the guys on the bridge had so little respect for the welfare and survival rate of the fish they released. And secondly that it continues to happen on a regular basis.

So if you've got an effective way to revive a spent fish after lowering it in a bridge net, please post it up, as there are a lot of folks who need educating on the subject. :thumbsup: