Look what FedEx brought me!

[ikMOON]

After one month to the day of waiting I pulled into my driveway to find a box from THE Tim Wade of Wade's Nets. 



It's an 8 foot, 1/2" mesh / 1" stretch, with 1.25 lb per foot of lead (10 lbs).  This thing is built like a tank compared to what I've been used to.  The wait was longer than expected--but what thing worth having isnt worth waiting on?  Wade's nets have been covered in detail on the forum, but I thought I'd add that the whole process from the call in to Tim himself, using the wait time for reasearch online, to delivery has improved my understanding of net design, build and function.  

It's been 35 days since my last water time--thats WAY too long.  My next trip will be spent troubleshooting how my back yard throwing practice translates to standing in the kayak.  We'll see.  Looking forward to Spring!!

[Yam]

Congrats on your new arrival. The mail reminds us fishermen that Santa Claus is alive and full of good cheer. Very exciting!

[gofish2]

I have a 12 ft - 3/4" mesh - 1.3 lb on order for 2 weeks today. I bought a 10 ft - 1" mesh - 1.75 lb from him couple months ago. Works good for the mongos down deep but it's hard on small bait. Tim is interesting to talk to. Good luck with the net.

[craddockcreek]

I got a new wade net in early January. I called Tim to ask him about conditioning it as I had one of his nets get very stiff a couple of years ago after it went several months without being used and stored dry. I had "reconditioned" it by soaking it in a cooler with warm water mixed with fabric softener. That really helped with that net after doing it a couple of times. I wondered whether I should do that out of the box to get it started right. Tim said that fabric softener has oil in it and that will attack the knots over time. He recommended just opening the net up on grass and leaving it over night so that it has dew on it in the morning, and then putting it in a bucket (without shaking the water off) and the putting a top on the bucket. If someone fishes often my guess is that wear and tear from getting hung up will consume the net long before fabric softener, but regardless I thought I'd share the advice he gave.

[Yam]

I don't use fabric softener myself on nets or anything for that matter. I find it damages my clothes and have to think it will damage nets as well. I use tin foil in my dryer to eliminate static cling.

I do exactly what Tim says to do and I still have my original net I bought over 3 years ago. And it is one of my workhorses although it's comprised more of my fixes than original netting.

But I would agree that in most cases, the net will probably be lost before the fabric softener takes its toll.

[ikMOON]

So you put the damp net in a bucket with a lid on it and store it that way? I assume you rinse it off good before a night streached out in the yard, but does the net get funky being put up wet like that?

[mwardncsu]

Mine go in the bucket often after a few dips to rinse any shad slime and maybe a few shakes. Occasionally the net lays on the floor of the boat and dries as I'm riding down the lake before being out away - but more often than not it goes in wet. In fact there is usually a 1/2" of water in the bottom of the bucket when I open it back up from what has drained off the net in storage.

Does not seem to do any harm. Unless I miss a gilled shad. Then the net has a wonderful odor and aftertaste when throwing it next.

[Live Bait JunkEE]

put away wet or dry - or 1/2 inch of water in the bottom of water - nothing has shown any affect on the 5 Tim Wade nets I own. Along with Yam no need for any fabric softner does not hurt or help with these nets, although if you do use softner they will smell wonderful for a bit.

Enjoy your new Tim Wade and may if bring you many citations this year!!!! Junkkeeee out!!