trouter203
10-24-2010, 12:38 PM
Back when I first started fly fishing, cash was tight. I could not believe how much gear was out there and how expensive it was. It took several seasons to buy what I considered to be needed to be a successful fly angler. Something that took a backseat to a vest, leaders, tippet material, flies, fly boxes, more flies, nippers, and hemostats was a net. I needed to worry about hooking a fish before I had to worry about landing it. By the time my third season rolled around, I was no longer losing fish on the hook set, but losing them as I tried to land them at my feet without a net. The final straw happened on a trip to the Deerfield where I tied into some very nice 2 year olds but I lost them all at my feet. I knew the time was then. I did a fair amount of driving in that area looking for a fly shop so I could buy the tool that would be needed for me to be successful at actually landing the fish. I struck out.
I came home and ordered the best net that Cabelas had. When I received the net, I was quite disappointed. The quality was not great at all and for $50, my expectations were higher. I promptly returned the net and set out to the Mill River fly shop. Gabe had a nice little selection of lovely nets made with exotic materials that if nothing else, just looked gorgeous. I picked up a small net made from Zebrawood for about $30 more than that Cabelas net cost. I figured I would buy one net and it will last my whole fishing career. 12 years later the net was starting to show age. The varnish was dinged up from years of hitting the river bottom and the bag was smelly as all get out. It was time to update this baby. I saw the ghost bag, I liked the idea of the ghost bag, I wanted one on my net.
Leadwingcoachman really inspired me to do more than just put the new bag on. After seeing what a completely refinished net could look like, I decided to sand down my net and refinish it myself. It did cost a few bucks to buy the bag, varnish, and other things that I would need, but the net was worth it. The refinishing part wasn't too bad. I am not very handy, but I think it came out alright. The re-bagging part was slightly more challenging. Brodin is not too generous with the length of string that give you and mine started to seriously unravel. The holes in my net were a bit on the small side so I was unable to use needle for the threading. In the end, I had just enough string to get around the whole net. I am pretty happy with the way it came out. And of course I forgot to take some before pictures....
Well I still cannot figure out how to put pics in a thread, so I posted them under the MISC section of the gallery. I also could not figure out how to rotate them in the gallery. If someone wants to add them to this thread, it would be much appreciated!
Et voila. That net looks deadly. ;-)
http://www.flyaddict.com/gallery/data/504/medium/IMG_1873_copy.JPG
I came home and ordered the best net that Cabelas had. When I received the net, I was quite disappointed. The quality was not great at all and for $50, my expectations were higher. I promptly returned the net and set out to the Mill River fly shop. Gabe had a nice little selection of lovely nets made with exotic materials that if nothing else, just looked gorgeous. I picked up a small net made from Zebrawood for about $30 more than that Cabelas net cost. I figured I would buy one net and it will last my whole fishing career. 12 years later the net was starting to show age. The varnish was dinged up from years of hitting the river bottom and the bag was smelly as all get out. It was time to update this baby. I saw the ghost bag, I liked the idea of the ghost bag, I wanted one on my net.
Leadwingcoachman really inspired me to do more than just put the new bag on. After seeing what a completely refinished net could look like, I decided to sand down my net and refinish it myself. It did cost a few bucks to buy the bag, varnish, and other things that I would need, but the net was worth it. The refinishing part wasn't too bad. I am not very handy, but I think it came out alright. The re-bagging part was slightly more challenging. Brodin is not too generous with the length of string that give you and mine started to seriously unravel. The holes in my net were a bit on the small side so I was unable to use needle for the threading. In the end, I had just enough string to get around the whole net. I am pretty happy with the way it came out. And of course I forgot to take some before pictures....
Well I still cannot figure out how to put pics in a thread, so I posted them under the MISC section of the gallery. I also could not figure out how to rotate them in the gallery. If someone wants to add them to this thread, it would be much appreciated!
Et voila. That net looks deadly. ;-)
http://www.flyaddict.com/gallery/data/504/medium/IMG_1873_copy.JPG