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Drop Net vs. Umbrella Net


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#1 Guest_jblaylock_*

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Posted 10 May 2012 - 02:33 PM

I was looking into getting a new 8ft seine from Douglas (I love my 4ft & 6ft) and I came across a one man drop net and an umbrella folding drop net. The description and pictures look like they are the same thing. What are the differences in the two?

Drop Net
http://www.douglasne...=5&cat=7&page=2

Umbrella Net
http://www.douglasne...=6&cat=7&page=2

Anyone care to share their experiences with either of these nets? I do a bit of solo collecting and it looks like these could help catching minnows.

#2 Guest_EricaWieser_*

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Posted 10 May 2012 - 03:21 PM

The umbrella net is like having an open umbrella, upside down, under water. That's where the 'umbrella' came from. It's a membrane with some support bars on it and a string tied centered above the middle so you can pull it up. But instead of an umbrella's solid membrane it's made out of net.

I own an umbrella net and have never caught anything with it, ever. The idea is you make a square of net and you lay it on the bottom. Then you leave it and you come back after a while and pull it up. Theoretically, you should pull up a couple fish. But there are two problems. Either the net is too small and the fish swim out of it before you can pull it up (the net stays completely horizontal during pull up, making it easy for fish to escape) or the net is too large and is so slow to pull up that fish can escape. Or, what I found was really the problem, no fish are stupid enough to ever swim over it. I've tried baiting it and they didn't fall for it (or the fish don't like hotdogs and bread). Maybe it might work at night with a light like they say on the webpage; I've never tried fishing at night.

Edited by EricaWieser, 10 May 2012 - 03:23 PM.


#3 Guest_Uland_*

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Posted 11 May 2012 - 05:47 AM

As a child I had an umbrella net and probably from Douglas. If you mount a pole to the fulcrum, you might manage to surprise a few fish. If you load some dead fish in the net and leave it an hour or two, you might catch monster crawdads. My personal favorite bait for catching crawdads was using uncooked squid tentacles from the larger squid (my mother would toss them out since they were too tough). Just tie them through the mesh.

I can't recommend an umbrella net even for crawdads.

#4 Guest_keepnatives_*

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Posted 12 May 2012 - 02:21 PM

I have found my umbrella net useful in a few limited scenarios. Mostly in water I can't or choose not to get into. One place I used to camp with my family had some great looking spotfin shiners all around the shore of its main pond but the camp personnel would not allow me to get in the water. So I took my umbrella net to a small bridge over a connection to another pond and dropped it into the water, let it sink to the bottom and waited a few minutes and a few spotfins would eventually swim over it, at that point I'd quickly yank it up and out of the water. A fast, strong initial pull is essential as it creates a bowl like shape to the net making escape more difficult. The quicker that pull can be continued until the net is lifted clear of the water the more fish will remain in the net. I also took the net and would toss it along side any logs/tree branches laying in the water near shore and wait for spawning spotfins to venture over. This also worked well but many escapes occurred compared to those captured. I also found that by tossing the net right along side a branch or log and pulling the cord taunt enough to actually pull the net perpendicular to the bottom and then waiting for a target fish or fishes to swim between me and the net often resulted in a catch by again quickly pulling the net to myself.

I also used it to catch bluenose shiners in a creek that had steep over hanging banks by standing on some overhanging tree roots dropping the net down about 5 or 6 feet and again wait for some fish to take the risk and cross over the net. These fish were much more cautious and it took hours to get about 12 fish with many too cautious to cross more then the edges of the net. Using bait, canned cat food in a piece of stocking pinned or tyied to the center of the net or hung from the center of the round disk the spokes of the umbrella are connected to in both examples helped slightly.

The umbrella net also was very usefull in two other scenarios both involved capturing dace, once southern redbellies another time redside dace. Both times the fish were in deep pools under a lot of overhanging brush so I got a long green stick and hung the net by the metal disk connecting the spokes on the end of the stick and carefully slid the net just above the water and below the overhanging brush to the desired spot and dipped the net into the water while quickly pulling the stick out leaving the net to drop into the pool. Then waiting several minutes or if able to see fish over the net a quick pull and captured dace would result. This worked especially well with the southern redbellies often resulting in several at once. The redsides usually resulted in 2 or 3 at a time, I was able to see them go over the net and they usually move about in small groups of 2 or 3 whereas the redbelly dace often travel in larger schools.

In all these situations I was by myself and would not have been able to catch the target fish by any other method available at the time. I don't always grab my umbrella net and have been sorry several times. I'd go with the 4ft though it may be tougher to pull in. Another thought I have not yet tested is to not only use bait hanging over the net from the spoke disk but also hang some plastic or silk plants from the spokes maybe even green yarn spawning mops.

Edited by keepnatives, 12 May 2012 - 02:30 PM.




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