Are you one of those who noticed one of your GBF fishing buddies has a beautiful laminated wooden landing net and asked him where he bought it, only to have him/her respond “I made it”?  Well, you too can make a net to be proud of.  For the seventh consecutive year Art Hawkins and Michael Kaul will be conducting a series of Net Building Clinics over the winter months. 

Each clinic, conducted in Art’s awesome woodshop, consists of three sessions lasting about two hours each.  Each clinic is limited to 5 members (Art wishes his shop was much bigger).  There are three net styles and several varieties of wood from which to choose. The $25 cost pays for the wood and net bag and results in a net that would cost between $80 and $95 in a fly shop. 

A signup sheet will be available starting with the December meeting and the first clinic will be scheduled sometime in January.  Priority (opportunity to attend the earlier sessions) is given to members who are enrolled in the Golden Trout Program, followed by first time net builders and lastly those who want to build their second or third net. 

This annual workshop series meets during the winter months at Art's woodworking shop on several consecutive week nights or Saturdays to (1) select their trout or catch & release net pattern and hardwood strips (like walnut, birch, etc), and begin the first steps to glue up the pre-cut and soaked wood strips and clamp the net frame and handle into the molds Art has on hand. Then (2) at the second meeting the excess glue is scraped off and Art's power planer and router makes short work of forming the wood, getting it ready for the student to drill holes around the frame for eventual installation of the net. Finally (3), the students take the unfinished net home for sanding, finishing, and net installation. The result is a beautiful handmade flyfishing net that is both useful and a work of art.

Here are members Jim Hunter, Rob Pope, Linda Shaw, Sonya Adamson, Gary Flanagan, Chris Serroels, and Art Hawkins (who owns the workshop) doing just that. Instructor Mike Kaul provided the knowledge and techniques, Art supplied the power tool expertise, and everyone had a great time.  The resulting nets were first-class fishing instruments, and beautiful works of art!    (Scroll using arrows right/left and click on a photo to enlarge it below)

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