The Best Fly Fishing Nets

Buy a net with soft rubber or silicone mesh and a magnetic release. Our top pick, the SF rubber-mesh net and release combo, has both for less than the cost of two fly boxes. Those two features do the whole job; the hoop shape, the frame wood and the handle length are preferences.

And carry it. A net left in the truck protects no fish at all, which is why the small nets on this list rank highly — the correct size is the one that does not annoy you enough to leave behind.

How we picked these

We compared published mesh material and hole size, frame material, overall length, whether a magnetic release is included, and packability — judged against landing wild creek trout of six to fourteen inches, in moving water, with the intention of releasing all of them. We weighted mesh material above everything else because it is the feature with measurable consequences for the fish, then packability, then frame quality. We do not conduct release mortality studies; we rely on published fisheries guidance, and our method is on the how we research and pick page. Prices here are live and dated.

Why rubber mesh is not a preference

A trout is covered in a mucus layer — slime — that is its primary defense against fungal and bacterial infection. Damage that layer and the fish may swim away looking fine and die of infection days later, which is why release mortality is invisible to the angler who caused it.

Fisheries agencies and conservation bodies consistently recommend knotless rubber or silicone mesh for catch-and-release fishing, and a number of special-regulation waters now require it. The secondary benefit is purely selfish and substantial: rubber mesh does not tangle flies. Anyone who has spent four minutes picking a size 16 nymph out of knotted nylon while a trout thrashes will never go back.

Small holes matter too. Large-hole mesh lets small flies and small hooks poke through and catch. For creek fishing with size 14 to 18 flies, choose the small-hole option where a net offers both.

What size net for a creek

Nets are sold in a range that reflects fish from panfish to salmon, and the instinct is to size up for the fish you hope to catch. On creeks, do the opposite.

A hoop of roughly 11 to 14 inches and a total length under about 24 inches is right for small water. It lands anything a creek realistically produces, and — critically — it is small enough to sit on your back without catching every branch between pools. The compact pick is sized exactly for this.

Folding nets solve the snag problem differently, collapsing to a fraction of their length for the walk and opening when needed. The trade is a mechanism that can wear or jam, but on genuinely brushy creeks the folding option is a sensible call.

A long handle is useful only if you fish from a high bank or a boat. Wading a creek, you are standing next to the fish, and a long handle is just more thing to catch on things.

Magnetic releases, and why they matter

A magnetic release is two parts: a strong magnet clipped to the back of your pack or a D-ring, and a mating plate on the net handle, usually with a short bungee tether.

The point is one-handed operation. You are landing a fish with a rod in the other hand, which means any system requiring two hands — unclipping a carabiner, untying a lanyard — does not work at the moment you need it. With a magnetic release you reach back, pull, and the net is in your hand. When you let go, it swings back and reseats itself.

The bungee tether matters as much as the magnet: it means that if the net pops off while you are pushing through brush, it dangles rather than floating away down the creek. Nets without a tether get lost. If you buy a net that does not include a release — like the clear-mesh pick — buy one separately, because carrying a net in your hand all day is how nets end up left at home.

How to actually use a net well

A net used badly is worse than no net. The mistakes are consistent and easy to fix.

Net the fish head-first, and let it swim in. Put the net in the water ahead of the fish and lead the fish into it. Chasing a fish from behind with the net pushes a wall of water at it and usually results in a last-second lunge that breaks your tippet.

Do not net it too early. A trout that still has energy will bounce off the hoop and tear out the hook. Let it come to the surface and turn on its side first, which takes less time than people think on light tackle.

Keep the net in the water. This is the biggest one. A netted fish should stay submerged in the net while you unhook it — the net is a holding pen, not a lifting device. A trout lifted into the air in a net bounces against the mesh and is out of water for the whole time it takes you to find your forceps.

Wet your hands first, and use forceps. Dry hands strip slime. Forceps or small pliers get a barbless hook out in a second or two — and if you have pinched your barbs down, often without touching the fish at all.

Release facing upstream. Hold it gently in the current until it swims out of your hand on its own. Do not throw it; do not squeeze it. If it sits in the shallows, cradle it upright in moving water until it goes.

What you can skip

Skip the big photogenic net unless you fish big water. It will live in your vehicle.

Skip nets with deep bags for creek fishing. A deep bag is for salmon; on a shallow net a ten-inch trout is easier to control and quicker to unhook.

Skip any net with knotted nylon mesh, however cheap. It is the one specification here with a real consequence, and the price difference is a few dollars.

Next: a sling pack to clip the net to, waders to reach the fish, and the beginner gear guide for the full kit in buying order. Fishing spinning gear? The single-hook advice in the creek lures roundup pairs with everything on this page.

A note on carrying it all. A net clips to a sling or a vest, but if you fish from a bank or a boat rather than wading upstream, a backpack organizes tackle far better — the best fishing backpack covers the packs with rod holders and included tackle boxes, and when a sling is still the better choice.