I’ve been wrangling with the idea of going angling for a while now but I want to do it the old school way and use a hand-line. Unfortunately there aren’t many places close by that allow for this kind of fishing and if you’re stuck out in the wilderness without a fishing rod, you have to make do with what you can and hand-lines are the simplest as they aren’t bulky and they can fit in your pack with little effort, they also don’t take up much space.
So on that note I thought I’d try my hand at net making.
No, don’t scoff, it’s a lot harder than it seems. It requires a level of patience and finesse that I don’t think I’ve quite yet mastered. I decided to start with something small to practice on before taking on something bigger.
I used four straight branches which I lashed together at the corners with string. I then tried net making in two different methods.
I strung the frame along the top at equidistant intervals and didn't attach the string to the base of the frame.
The first method is the conventional method where you make allowance for the next set of attachments by letting a piece hang down in the middle before tying the string to the next strand. I have never quite liked this method as it’s not very accurate and the net can become very wonky. You can see that I only wove two lines of this method before I got annoyed.
The second method which I decided might work better is made using the vertical strands which are then attached to the base branch and tightened so that they stay taught. The netting strands are then woven down in a zig zag pattern to make up triangle shapes instead of diamonds. This makes for a much better weave once you get the hang of it and it takes the guess work out of having to leave a piece hanging down as you simply zig zag in a tight fashion all the way along.
The second method is much easier to handle and seems to go a lot faster as well. Take note, this net making takes a long time to finish! If you’re making a large net, be ready to sit with this project for a good couple of hours, if not days.
I’ve never been very good at macramé so this is going to take me a while to perfect, but I think that overall the net came out well enough. If you are knotting every attachment point, there’s no reason to not come out with a net that can be cut loose from the frame if required as it will hold itself together just fine. In this particular demo I didn’t knot each point, yes, I cheated a little bit but I was pressed for time which I would probably have more of in a situation where things have gone to pot, there’s no access to the internet, no working hours and I’m stranded somewhere in the middle of nowhere with few distractions or things to focus on other than survival mode.
Another thing that this taught me is how much string these nets require. It was a lot more than I originally thought it would take but there was also a fair amount of wastage which I could probably trim down once I get the hang of weaving these.
In terms of quality, I think that making a net like this would provide a good enough quality net to use out fishing if you made it large enough you could probably catch medium sized fish with it but it would require more than one person to hold it out if it doesn’t have a frame. A large frame would have to be built out of bamboo or something similar for durability and to make it lightweight enough that it can be wielded easily if on your own.
Ideally I’d like to to weave a circular net (and I know how to) that can be used as a throw net as they are very effective and they’re small enough to fit into/onto a survival pack.
So my advice to anyone wanting to make nets – start practicing now, they seem to take a bit of getting used to and making them freehand is definitely an art as much as it is a science.
Have you made a net by hand before? What was your experience? Let me know in the comments.