Brookie Landing Nets

Most of my mountain streams have on average 10" trout swimming in them. Yeah, on occasion I'll net a larger trout, but for the most part I'm having tight line fun with 10" trout. And, I do believe that size of trout is more common throughout mountain creeks than most anglers will admit. They always post a photo of their largest catch on their social media sites, leading us to believe there are more trophy trout than reality for for those streams. Add to that, a dedicated dry fly angler is leaving the big ones down deep on the stream bed and only getting lucky enough to fool one with a dry fly on occasion. As you know, I like to let the trout have a safe space on the bottom, making it more fair between the trout and angler.

Which brings me to the topic of the post...landing nets. I'm old enough to remember when it was easy to buy a small net from companies like Orvis and Cortland. By small I mean in the 15" to 18" inch overall length...you know, a net that is a great fit for those small wild trout that swim in tiny mountain creeks. Nobody is making them anymore. Why???

These days, I have to find a small net from the second hand marketplace. And it's a shame, because companies are missing a market base of anglers in my view. Guess I'll stop ranting now...

The photo is my favorite net for tiny mountain creeks. It's 16" long with a 10" x 6" hoop and is light as can be...with beautiful contrasting wood. Yep, it's an Orvis from back in the days when they were interested in selling to anglers who fished for tiny brook trout.

It would be nice if some small shop in the USA would once again start building these little beauties...