MAKE YOUR OWN NETS!

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To make a dip net suitable for landing a pan-sized trout, you'll need a ball of No. 9 twine, a gauge block with a circumference of about 2-1/8", and a shuttle that's about 8 " long and 3/4 " wide. In order to prevent a fish from slipping through your homemade net, you'll need to space the loops close enough together to prevent the meshes from hanging in squares. I chose to hang my loops 1" apart around the frame. I used a frame that's 18" in diameter and has a circumference of 56-1/2 ", so—at 1 mesh to the inch—there are 56 meshes around the webbing tube.

GETTING STARTED

Begin the project by tying a piece of cord (it's called, appropriately enough, the starting string) to two nails set about 3 feet apart and chest high (as on a wall). Next, loosely tie the end of your netting twine to this starting string at a point near the left end (if you're a southpaw, reverse all directions).

The first row of meshes will be handgauged with slipknots, as shown in Photo 2. To tie these, just pass the shuttle behind the starting string from underneath, then up, over, and down in front. Grip the loop thus made with your left thumb and forefinger while positioning the mesh, with your second finger, about an inch from the starting string (see the diagram).

The secret to producing nets—while minimizing the waste of time and motionlies in the next moves. As you let your right hand fall to your side, thus pulling in the mesh, tilt your right wrist so the twine passes across the back of your hand. Leave it there. Then pass your shuttle up through the open mesh and around the loop, and pull it back through the hole held open by your wrist. Finally, drop your hand (the one with the needle) and tighten this—your first—knot ... which is known as a slipknot or a bight.

There's also a less rhythmic—and thus less desirable—way to produce this same knot. After making the first loop, and while holding it in your left hand, flip the twine clockwise over the same hand—up, around, and over your work—to form a loop. At this point, pass the needle, from below, around the loop and through this hole, before dropping your right hand and drawing the knot tight.

Continue the process of "form a loop, tie a knot" until you have 56 of these triangles (they're actually half-meshes, as you'll see later, but don't let that bother you now). Be sure to handle this first row of knots carefully, as they'll try to slip. (If they do, you must slide them back ... it's extra work, but necessary.) To minimize effort later on, strive for uniformity now!

When you've completed the 56 halfmeshes, simply remove the starting string from its two nails, tie its ends together, and hook it over one nail.

GAUGING THINGS CORRECTLY

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