Being boring over Landing net handles

[Keston]

Yes there is a very real risk of my boring everyone over my landing net handle statistics . However there was a good reason behind my doing it and I also wonder if anyone had any info on other handles or any thoughts and if there was information about Dare Brand of fishing tackle ?

I took my trust vintage Craddock fishing net handle when I fished the river this week , and without concern , however I was wondering if another would better suit my needs .

Looking at three different brands of landing ally landing net handles I thought to compare them to a modern one and two non extending . although I have to say I immediately knew a vintage 4 foot ally handle would not suit my needs .

Ally Extending
Craddock
Extend to - 7' 8" ......... Weighs - 16.6 oz
Dare
Extends to - 7' 3" ........Weighs - 13.2 oz
Efgeeco
Extends to - 7' 10" ...... Weighs - 18.0 oz

Modern extending
Gardener
Extends to - 9' 10" ...... Weighs - 18.0oz

Non extending
modern Plastic - 6' ......Weighs - 12.0oz
Vintage Ally - 4' .......Weighs - 7.70z


The Dare and Craddock handles would have extended a little further , but I stuck to the manufacturers limits , in the case of the Craddock a nice little "stop here " sticker on the inner pole and the Dare a built in stop .

I have to say the modern handle was a popular one , especially with river anglers , however the robust locking collar was heavy and did impact on the overall weight despite the modern material.

The real surprise came when I tried all the extending handles in the hand at 7' 3" , the Dare brand was the clear winner for me in terms of balance and comfort of use . Perhaps something to do with the light weight and very different locking mechanism , Most having a collar arrangement on the outer pole and the Dare instead is not fully circular , it has a flat surface with holes along the outer pole and a sprung pin which locks the inner pole in place .

Sadly no bamboo handles to compare with ,

All the extending all handles were pretty much exactly the same length when not extended.





kind regards
John

[Old Man River]

I have about a half dozen bamboo handles in various lengths up to about 6ft,including one two piece.
let me know what stats you want and I can sort something out for you .

David.

[Keston]

I have about a half dozen bamboo handles in various lengths up to about 6ft,including one two piece.
let me know what stats you want and I can sort something out for you .

David.

Many thanks David , Weight in Oz would be great and if you had anything comparable to my ally handles it would be interesting to hear opinions of how the felt balance wise .

best wishes
John

[Old Man River]

I will get on with weighing and measuring later this evening.
I cannot compare them to your alloy handles as I dont have one myself, my last one met an untimely end many years ago .

David

[Bobthefloat]

Very interesting thread John.
I actually use one of David's 6ft bamboo poles (flamed tigers tale) for all my fishing ( and so does Lily) fortunately we don't need anything longer and it's extremely light.

I'll be following this thread with interest

[Keston]

Very interesting thread John.
I actually use one of David's 6ft bamboo poles (flamed tigers tale) for all my fishing ( and so does Lily) fortunately we don't need anything longer and it's extremely light.

I'll be following this thread with interest

Wait until you are old and decrepit like me Terry , you might welcome and extra foot or so

[Bobthefloat]

I meant to say because of the venues we now fish John!
I've fished rivers in the past when 7 or even 8 ft was needed.
It's all about comfort and using the right tool for the job

[Old Man River]

Ok, well to start with I have only done the spec on 3 of my “ users”
I have about another half dozen waiting for Redditch , as they are all a bit different to each other it would have been time consuming and really not representative . No two cane poles , at least the ones that I make are identical, similar yes .






Top photo,

The one on the right is 6 ft - 1 inches long, weighs 12 oz , heat treated flamed / hollowed cane ,filed nodes , brass net and butt fitting with turned “ wooden button “ instead of rubber , not varnished but multiple coats of danish oil. This finish is more durable than spar as any scratches just polish out with another coat of oil.
This is my go to net pole,very light, a bit flexible and can be bashed about and be abused without any worries . I have landed double figure fish with this easily .

Middle pole is my heavy duty one which really doesnot get used much , it is just under 6 ft at 70 inches long , weighes in at 1 lb 2 oz .Again flamed / hollowed / heat treated cane , filed nodes ,whipped about every inch or so along its length, brass net and butt fittings with rubber button .Finished with multiple coats of satin spar varnish. I made this to match up with the below steamed American white oak net , which is a near replica of a Bernard Venables net .





I will admit now it has never been used , as the net is big enough for potentially any 30 lb plus carp . I dont fish for them so the net and pole are sat being display pieces. However, I have made similar nets and poles for others who use them regularly and so far as feedback is concerned they are just right for the job .

The last pole is a two piece which I made for roaming as it is shorter , easier to store in the car with a 3 piece rod .
It is 68-1/2 inches assembled and breaks down into two identical lengths at 34-1/4 inches, and weighs in at 1 lb 3 oz , it has brass net and butt fittings ,and a brass middle ferrule . It is heat treated , hollowed , filed nodes but not flamed,whipped at about every 4 inches , and finished with multiple coats of gloss spar varnish It is stiffer than the other two poles.
In use it is easy enough to wield as the rods I use with it are only 9 or 10 feet long, I tend to get as close as I can to the water so a long net pole is not really needed.

Cane poles are all different, the brass fittings could weigh more or less than each other,the cane itself could be thin or thick walled, full heat treating tends to lighten them as it drives all the moisture out, however we are only talking about a few ounces tops so really its negligible.

For myself, given the choice alloy or cane it would be cane every time, cane bends but then springs back, alloy bends and stays bent. Alloy gets corroded inside where you cannot see it, so long as cane is looked after it in my opinion it will serve you still when alloy has long since given up .

Almost forgot , the measurements above do not include the thread “ bungs” . I just make them to protect the brass fitting. So far as whipping poles is concerned, well again in my opinion it is just cosmetic, looks nice but not needed unless the pole suffers a split from drying out , then the whipping would support the split. Whippings on poles get scuffed and scratched with use , it is virtually unavoidable when in use constantly, and the pole will end up looking a bit tatty without some remedial work done .

Hope the above is of some use .

David

[DaceAce]

My second alloy landing net pole was bought in 1973 and still going strong. It's had a new brass end - the bit with the thread - back in 1985 and a new nylon locking collar but has survived being driven over and being bent by a horse. I doubt any cane or other material would survive these stresses! I think it may have been Steade-Fast.

[Keston]

Ok, well to start with I have only done the spec on 3 of my “ users”
I have about another half dozen waiting for Redditch , as they are all a bit different to each other it would have been time consuming and really not representative . No two cane poles , at least the ones that I make are identical, similar yes .






Top photo,

The one on the right is 6 ft - 1 inches long, weighs 12 oz , heat treated flamed / hollowed cane ,filed nodes , brass net and butt fitting with turned “ wooden button “ instead of rubber , not varnished but multiple coats of danish oil. This finish is more durable than spar as any scratches just polish out with another coat of oil.
This is my go to net pole,very light, a bit flexible and can be bashed about and be abused without any worries . I have landed double figure fish with this easily .

Middle pole is my heavy duty one which really doesnot get used much , it is just under 6 ft at 70 inches long , weighes in at 1 lb 2 oz .Again flamed / hollowed / heat treated cane , filed nodes ,whipped about every inch or so along its length, brass net and butt fittings with rubber button .Finished with multiple coats of satin spar varnish. I made this to match up with the below steamed American white oak net , which is a near replica of a Bernard Venables net .





I will admit now it has never been used , as the net is big enough for potentially any 30 lb plus carp . I dont fish for them so the net and pole are sat being display pieces. However, I have made similar nets and poles for others who use them regularly and so far as feedback is concerned they are just right for the job .

The last pole is a two piece which I made for roaming as it is shorter , easier to store in the car with a 3 piece rod .
It is 68-1/2 inches assembled and breaks down into two identical lengths at 34-1/4 inches, and weighs in at 1 lb 3 oz , it has brass net and butt fittings ,and a brass middle ferrule . It is heat treated , hollowed , filed nodes but not flamed,whipped at about every 4 inches , and finished with multiple coats of gloss spar varnish It is stiffer than the other two poles.
In use it is easy enough to wield as the rods I use with it are only 9 or 10 feet long, I tend to get as close as I can to the water so a long net pole is not really needed.

Cane poles are all different, the brass fittings could weigh more or less than each other,the cane itself could be thin or thick walled, full heat treating tends to lighten them as it drives all the moisture out, however we are only talking about a few ounces tops so really its negligible.

For myself, given the choice alloy or cane it would be cane every time, cane bends but then springs back, alloy bends and stays bent. Alloy gets corroded inside where you cannot see it, so long as cane is looked after it in my opinion it will serve you still when alloy has long since given up .

Almost forgot , the measurements above do not include the thread “ bungs” . I just make them to protect the brass fitting. So far as whipping poles is concerned, well again in my opinion it is just cosmetic, looks nice but not needed unless the pole suffers a split from drying out , then the whipping would support the split. Whippings on poles get scuffed and scratched with use , it is virtually unavoidable when in use constantly, and the pole will end up looking a bit tatty without some remedial work done .

Hope the above is of some use .

David

Hi David , I'm so sorry for not responding sooner , for some unknown reason your response completely escaped me .
Thanks you for adding such great information and such detail . I have to say you do have some lovely landing nets there
Kind regards
John