Fishing net....trout beware!

[Nick2cd]

i enjoy getting up to a mountain stream for a bit of fly fishing whenever i get the opportunity.  i thought a fishing net would be a great way to wet my feet (yes, the pun was intended) on a bent lamination project.

 

 First, i milled down my rough stock (i figure nobody wants to see pics of that).  

 

i decided to make the net out of black walnut and wild cherry.  here in West Virginia, we have access to some of the most beautiful walnut and cherry trees you could imagine.

 

here are 1/16" thick walnut and cherry strips

 

 

Next, i roughed out the walnut handle on my bandsaw and then cleaned it up on my ridgid oss spindle sander, but i forgot to take a pic of this.  i tried to select a nice, figured piece of walnut that had a water ripple to the grain.

 

i built a bending form out of some 3/4" plywood.  this was covered in packing tape to avoid glue sticking.  i glued the strips with TB3 and then bent the strips around the form.  i used several clamps to keep things tight to the form and to promote good adhesion of the laminated layers.

 

next came lots of sanding and blending.  it's starting to take shape.

 

 

 i cut the groove by hand and added holes to string the net bag.  i spaced the holes 1 3/4" apart. 

 

a few coats of finish really brings out the grain and warms things up.  i used a blend of poly, boiled linseed oil, and mineral spirits

 

handle grain detail

 

 

finally strung the net bag and called it complete

 

 

 

Only thing i've caught so far

 

 

thanks for looking!

[Boatworks Today]

Awesome job Nick!  The little fish at the end was the icing on the cake .  Hope you put it to good use!

[Miles11we]

that looks awesome! love the fish too

[G S Haydon]

Hi Nick,

 

Colour contrast is great, I wish you more success with fishing than I ever had.

[BuilderBill]

Looks great, nice job. Where'd you get the bag?

[jimmykx250]

Very nice job! I love the contrast in woods.

[duckkisser]

looks good. since you just posted questions on bending im guessing it was fairly easy to bend.   you might be able to make those and sell them at tackle stores real fishermen who spend most of there time on the water spend thousands in equipment so you might be able to get a bit of cash out of that project if  you wanted too.

[Eric.]

Good job Nick!  I'd like to build one, too, even though I don't carry a net...usually just use wet hands and the hemostats...or more frequently in my case, the "long-distance release."   But I have buddies who would love a net like that.

 

What's involved in the stringing of the net?  Would you wanna do a quick tutorial on that, or share a link where you learned how to do it?  That's the only part I'm a little foggy on.

 

I'm also supposed to be building some hexagonal rod tubes for a few people...been pushing that one off nearly a year now.  If I ever get to it I'll post about it.

 

Nice Japanese maple, too.  Those are my favorite trees.  I have a bunch of 'em. 

[TRBaker]

Fantastic job, Nick. I guess I'll have to throw my hat in the ring too. I've got to make one of those. BTW, what bait did you use to catch that fish?

[Nick2cd]

Thanks guys! It was a fun build and likely won't be my last net.

[Nick2cd]

Bill, I ordered the net bag from bitterroot net company. It was around $20. There are certainly cheaper net bags out there but I've found the rubber bags are much easier on the fish and don't snag up on hooks.

Duck, the bending went pretty well. It wasn't too hard once I figured out the necessary thickness to avoid shattering the wood. The cherry needed to be a bit thinner than the walnut to accommodate the same radius.

Eric, I'm quite versed in the "long distance release" myself. Borodin net company has a website that shows an okay tutorial on how to string in the net bag. It's not hard to do, just tedious. Unfortunately I didn't document that process with any pics or video. I love the rod tube idea! I may have to give that a try myself. I've been wanting to incorporate the same concept to make some countertop kitchen canisters for flour, sugar, pasta, etc. I love Japanese maples as well. I was just at my local farmers market and saw a great one but they wanted $500! Had to pass.

TR, I definitely recommend giving it a shot. Fun build that goes fairly quick and doesn't use much wood. What more can u ask for? The fish in the net is a wine bottle balancer, so naturally, he hit on a cheese egg! Badda bing!

[BuilderBill]

Thanks, Nick! Just ordered one, the clear-bag nets go for an arm and a leg at the fly shops around here just for the bottom-line models. Might as well build my own.

 

Tight lines!

 

Bill

[Nick2cd]

Excellent Bill! Yeah this source for clear bags is very reasonable. I'll be ordering more from them. I have a Brodin net, and it's the exact same bag they use and I mean exact. Very good quality rubber at half of Brodin's price.

[Byrdie]

Just bookmarked Bitterroot Net Co.  Now if I could just get off my a$$ and finish some of the other projects I've got sitting around ...