Dip net shapes

[AkBillyBow]

What shape of dip net do you prefer. I always thought I liked the taditional round net. Last year, I saw a few people that were catching way more fish, and they all used a rectangular shaped frame. I am wondering if they caught more because the shape puts more netting on the bottom.

Not to say you catch more on the bottom, but for some reason I noticed a difference. I am planning on welding up a couple of nets, and wondering which shape to make.

Any input???

AkBillyBow

 

[Paul H]

I really don't think shape matters that much, but which river are you talking about, and from a boat, shore or floating?

I've been using a 5' octagon frame I bent up for the Kenai and have been quite happy with it, and I float with it. I don't think you need to hold bottom, as my net runs about another 20 feet from shore than the guys doing the shuffle. As the water level drops with the tide the fish run in different spots. Sometimes the guys closer in nail em and I come in dry, some times I nail em and the others miss em.

Most important of all is being there on a day when the run is strong, everybody will get lots of fish.

 

[tccak71]

Round

Round

I use a 5' round dipnet. Last year I borrowed a dipnet from my buddy and it was a rectangular dipnet that rode on your shoulder and could be held with two hands. I believe it was made of copper tubing.


Tim

 

[MacGyver]

I like mine.

I like mine.

I made a round 5 foot net that I use on the Kenai.
I hold it in place with ONE HAND. It look like a "T" with a circle on the far end. One end of the "T" is pushed into the sand to help hold it in place.
Cost me $40.

 

[RayfromAK]

I don't think it matters, except (maybe) when drifting the boat and dragging the net on the bottom. In this case the rectangular net covers more room side to side. But when I "drift" I still use the cheaper aluminum tubing ones, not the gill nets. A gill net is just too expensive, so I don't drag the bottom with it.

I just bought a round gill net at Sentry Hardware at a discount (my wife works there). I placed the round over the rectangular one, and while the rectangular is a little wider, the round one is longer. One of my coworkers uses the rectangular gill nets, so I had a hard time trying to decide which one to buy, and got the round one because I plan to only it from shore. The round-shape one stretches out a few more inches than the other.

Like others said, all depends on where the fish are when you are there.

 

[AkBillyBow]

Thanks for the replies. I guess I need to give more info. I am referring to dipping from shore, at the mouth of the Kenai.

My wife and I were there one day last year. We have round nets, as did about 80% of the people. There were two guys that I noticed in particular, that had rectangular nets, that would catch afish within 5 to 10 seconds of their nets entering the water...almost every time. The rest of us would walk with the current, and spend minutes in the water beofre catching a fish, and some passes we would get nothing.

I know there is a lot of luck in it, but it just seemed peculiar to me. One of the two I watched, could be in fron of me, or behind me, it didn't matter. I would catch nothing, and he always catch one. We were joking about it being 'his day'...as he never missed .

Barring all the luck, could any of it had to do with the net shape? Just curious to peoples opinions, as I am contemplating which shape to build.


Thanks again,

AkBillyBow

 

[TR]

I'm going to mount a waterproof video camera on mine this year. Just gotta know what's going on down there.

 

[AkBillyBow]

Sweetttt....never thoughtof that.
hope it works!!


AkBillyBow

 

[RayfromAK]

Thanks for the replies. I guess I need to give more info. I am referring to dipping from shore, at the mouth of the Kenai.

My wife and I were there one day last year. We have round nets, as did about 80% of the people. There were two guys that I noticed in particular, that had rectangular nets, that would catch afish within 5 to 10 seconds of their nets entering the water...almost every time. The rest of us would walk with the current, and spend minutes in the water beofre catching a fish, and some passes we would get nothing.
AkBillyBow

More than likely the guys with the rectangular nets had found a hole, drop-off, or narrow point the salmon had to go trough. What you want to do when dipping from shore is to feel a depression or hole with the hoop, and set your net there. Those guys probably had already figured the sweet spots. Sometimes there is one or two spots in a long stretch of shore, and those who know what to look for usually find them. Not only that, but once you find a good hole, you must figure how deep or how shallow to set the net.