pink pool noodle AROUND the handle, and the “idiot mitten” leash someone else suggested.
Make sure to post pictures after your next fishing trip!
Do I recall correctly that you usually fish from a kayak?
Could you use a fly fisherman’s net and leash? I think it would be long enough since you are so close to the water.
Three nets in 15 years? That does not seem like a terrible rate to lose tackle to me. How expensive are the nets? Also…how often do you fish? What I mean is like do you fish once a year and lose a net every fifth year? In any case, it sounds like just tying it to the boat or to a float would be the way to go.
So after 15 years of going on fishing trips, dropping three fishing nets into various lakes (retrieving two from the bottom and losing one (this past weekend)) I have finally accepted the fact that fishing nets sink. And not only do they sink, but we seem to have a problem of dropping them into lakes.
So today I took my net and I cut up a pool noodle and crammed a metric butt ton of pool noodle into the hollow handle of my net. Then I capped the end with tape.
Will this be enough to keep the handle buoyant? (I’ll be testing the next time I am at the in laws place in their lake)
It has rubber netting so kind of heavy at that end.
will this work? nope.
will sealing the tube so water does not enter? maybe as long as the volume of the water it displaces is more than the weight of the net. That is Archimedes principle. Grade 12 physics problem here. Not impossible to calculate the buoyancy of a tube, add some displacement for the net, determine the weight of the net (bathroom scales), bingo you know if it will have even a chance of floating.
Otherwise tie the pool noodle to it or put it around the handle until you have enough buoyancy.
Remember, you aren’t looking to make the whole net float. Just a part of the net to keep it afloat. I would go with the pool noodle around the handle but only about a 6 inch wide piece attached to where the the handle meets the net. That should keep the net floating enough for you to grab it.
Or become a better fisherman. 
Can you put pool noodle on only part of the handle? Doesn’t have to be here specifically (other end might be better) but could help if the inside the tube amount won’t keep it floating.
Do I recall correctly that you usually fish from a kayak?
Could you use a fly fisherman’s net and leash? I think it would be long enough since you are so close to the water.
I use a kayak but mostly in a canoe if I am with my friends.
The fly fisherman’s nets are fine for bass but don’t really help much with a 4lb pike (which is pretty common).
Can you put pool noodle on only part of the handle? Doesn’t have to be here specifically (other end might be better) but could help if the inside the tube amount won’t keep it floating.
Yeah that’s definitely an option.
Not big enough. It has to be able to handle pike. We’ve caught more than a few over 10 lbs.
Since the fly fishing net will not work…
What about using spray foam to seal the ends of the tubes? You might get buoyancy and sealing in the air.
Do the experiment.
Seal up the handle with spray foam and add pool noodles until it floats.
Dummy cord it so you don’t lose it.
If it doesn’t work… there’s your answer.
aren’t you Canadian, you’ll be ice fishing in a few days
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Why not just put some noodle around the outside of the handle?
Because I think it would become unwieldy.
Here’s the net for those who need to see it.
Archimedes told me there isn’t enough displacement in that handle for it to float.
What would he know? Does it weigh more or less than a duck?
Here’s the net for those who need to see it.
You must be a wonderful husband, anticipating the needs of others so exquisitely.
Not big enough. It has to be able to handle pike. We’ve caught more than a few over 10 lbs.
Awww, what a cute little fishy. When I worked as a fishing guide in Northern Ontario we use to consistency catch Walleye that big. Pike were BIG up there.
Not big enough. It has to be able to handle pike. We’ve caught more than a few over 10 lbs.
Awww, what a cute little fishy. When I worked as a fishing guide in Northern Ontario we use to consistency catch Walleye that big. Pike were BIG up there.
Biggest, not mine, was 25lbs. That was a big’un. My largest was 14lbs.
Why not just put some noodle around the outside of the handle?
Late to this conversation, but as an avid fellow kayaks fisherman, this is what I did. Take a small slice of pool noodle and slide it over the handle. Done deal.
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Why not just put some noodle around the outside of the handle?
Because I think it would become unwieldy.
Here’s the net for those who need to see it.
Archimedes told me there isn’t enough displacement in that handle for it to float.
What would he know? Does it weigh more or less than a duck?
Who are you who is so wise in the ways of science?