Recycled Tennis Racket Fishing Net

I have been searching for a way to catch my fish and successfully land them without having the hook fall out of its mouth while bringing onto land. I have had ideas of making a net myself for many years but never came around to do it, until today!

The net should:

• Be strong enough to hold a fish not exceeding 8 pounds,
• Light enough to be carried around to locations,
• Small enough to be incorporated with your tackle

After a couple of hours of brainstorming and prototyping, I have found an effective way to make a fishing net that would actually work.

In this instructable, I will show how to make a fishing net as well as some tips while making it to improve the quality of the net.

Tools:

• Drill (optional)
• Drill bits (optional)
• Scissors

Materials

• Tennis racket (preferably and old one)
• Yarn (40ft)
• Fishing line (8-25 pound monofilament line) (5 yards)

All of these materials and tools can be commonly found around your house, or easily bought from the dollar store at a low price. If you are worrying about the drill and drill bits, don't, it is only necessary if you choose thick yarn that can't easily pass through the holes of the racket. I have found that thicker yarn and heavier line helps with structural integrity and is easier to land heavier fish but it makes the holes in between each line wider and more susceptible to smaller fish escaping. The yarn that I am using is quite old and is shedding a lot but should still make a great net.

Have all the materials neatly organize to minimize mess. Start off by placing the racket in your designated workspace. Once again, I highly suggest using a tennis racket that is no longer of use and not cared about. Once you have you tennis racket, you have two options, either cutting the strings or taking off the strings without cutting them. If you choose to cut the strings, then be prepared for a little bit of a mess since there will be small chunks of line. This method is also easier then unravelling and it is the method I used. Use the scissors in this method to cut the lines. If you want to unravel the strings, just untie the knot that keeps them from falling back through the holes and start pulling the strings out one line at a time. This process may take some time but have patience. Whether you choose one method or not, it will not affect the outcome in any way.

Once the old tennis racket lines are out of the way, you can start passing the yarn through the holes. If your yarn doesn't fit, it might be because there are plastic covering the accompanied the holes the original lines went through. If that is the case, then just simply rip them off. The ones on my tennis racket fell off already so I could skip this step. If you do that and the yarn still can't pass through because you choose thick yarn, then this is where you use the drill and the drill bits to widen the holes. Simply choose the right size drill bit, go with one that is just a little bit bigger than the yarn, and start drilling until you go completely through. Be careful since there may be some angled holes that might be difficult to get through. Once you start pulling the yarn through, make sure to leave some extra line through from the beginning. You should make the yarn line bow about 6 inches or more form the bottom of the rim. Make sure to not let the line tighten. This will leave us with an indentation so that the fish doesn't easily escape. Do this process until you are done with the vertical lines and holes.

Once you are done with vertically placing the yarn lines, we can start with the horizontal yarn lines. This is where most of your time will be taken up since there are more holes on this side. Repeat the same process that you did with the vertical yarn line, passing it through the holes. However, when you cross the vertical line, go over and under creating a weaving pattern through the vertical lines. This will help with the strength of the yarn. Remember to leave about 6 inches or however much you left of excess yarn line to create a pocket that the fish can sit in once you net it. I have found that the weaving pattern helps place the fish better and carry more weight that just laying yarn on top or below without weaving it in previous prototypes.

Once you have weaved all of the yarn and it is in place, create buds or knots at the ends and beginnings of each strand of yarn to help it not fall back through. Try to create big, but strong knots so that it doesn't easily break or untie when there is a fish in there. Then you can clip the tags of the knot to reduce the profile of it if you wish to do so. After you tie the knots, you can start placing the fishing line. 8-25 lb. mono fishing line is thin and should be able to pass back through the holes that have the yarn going through already. What you should do now is pass it through the hole again but don't go to the other side, just simply pass it through both the holes that are next to each other and cinch it down and create a knot. This helps with keeping the yarn in place and making it resist more weight. If you wish to do so, this step can be skipped, but I highly recommend doing it. Cut off the tags of the line and keep going until every pair of hole has fishing line through it.

If the steps were done right, you should have a functional net that should be able to catch fish. Personally, I would have gone out and catch some bass or tilapias but due to covid-19, I couldn't test it out properly. That doesn't mean I don't doubt this net can't hold any fish, it should easily hold a bass or whatever type of fish you are catching that is less then 8 pounds. Thank you for viewing my project and I hope you have some luck catching fish. Also, thank you for choosing recyclable items to create this net, we need to reduce pollution and the waste we make and I think doing projects like these are a great way to reduce our wastes. Have fun catching fish!