TOPIC:

I have a Ranger salmon and trout net that extends to about 8 feet and has a very large diameter hoop and a deep bottom. The netting is a nylon ? material . Seems like hooks love to get wound up in the netting and are PIA to get untangled during the course of a fish fight. Does anybody have experience with the rubber or rubber dipped netting? Looking for pros and cons if possible. I want to change my netting out.

I have the same issues - so would love to hear the responses

I have a smaller net I use for cohos and it has a plastic coating over the mesh I run stinger hooks on my jig n squid n I can say it's absolutely lovely to not have to fish the trebles out of the net ESPESIALLY WHEN U HAVE DOUBLES N TRIPPLES COMING INTO THE NET....on the down side my net only has like half inch or one inch holes unlike big salmon nets have two or three inch holes n my net drags when making a big scoop for the fish but u just have to make sure the fish is close to the boat when netting them outside of that I love that net

Probably 95% of the fish caught on my boat are netted in a rubber net. My handles and hoops are now hybrids since I've swapped out the original net which (after 10 years or more) had a few holes in them and I swapped out the original with Frabill 3070 replacement net. I have two nets on my boat at all times. From spring through early summer, both are nets with the Frabill rubber net. I've netted 20+ pound salmon and lake trout with them many times. These fit perfectly on hoops up to 2 feet in diameter. Most of the fish, you can dump out on the floor, if you wish. Come laker time and bigger king time, I swap one of the rubber nets for a bigger-hoop size frame with black poly netting. At this time of year we aren't dealing with two or three dozen fish per day so it's not like we are spending most of our time untangling the net/lures.
On this net (probably a 32" hoop) I double a strong rubber band on the handle and then tuck a few inches of the bottom of the net under the band. This keeps the bag of the net from trailing back where it can tangle with the hooks on the lure. When you scoop the fish, the weight of the fish pulls the net free from the rubber band and the fish can fall into the bag. I've been on boats where they had pinch-pad downrigger clips taped on the net handle to accomplish the same thing.

I recently found and bought a replacement hook free net for my Ranger Big Game landing net. It looks like it will be a big improvement over the original nylon netting. The holes are much smaller on the new net so there might be a bit more drag in the water. It is also flat bottomed which is supposed easier on the fish. Ranger sold it directly to me for 20 bucks and 7 for shipping. On ebay and amazon they were nearer 40 bucks.
FYI, Ranger nets are made in Michigan, USA, makes it a better deal.

Thanks Don!