Landing net or hand landing: what each costs the fish
Explainer · Last reviewed 2026-08-14
A welfare decision most anglers make without noticing they made it, and the evidence points at the net material rather than at the choice between net and hand.
THE QUESTION IS USUALLY ASKED AS NET AGAINST HAND, and the evidence suggests the more important variable is WHAT THE NET IS MADE OF.
WHAT A NET DOES WELL. It supports the fish's whole body weight in water, it ends the fight sooner, it removes the risk of a fish dropping onto hard ground, and it holds a fish still while the hook is removed — which reduces handling time and reduces the chance of a hook going into somebody. For a large fish, or a fish with trebles in it, a net is unambiguously better for both parties.
WHAT A NET DOES BADLY, AND THIS IS THE MATERIAL QUESTION. Knotted mesh abrades the skin and removes the mucus layer wherever it presses, and fine hard mesh damages fins and can trap gill covers, hooks and fin rays. A fish held in a knotted net while somebody finds their pliers has been sitting in an abrasive bag. KNOTLESS, SOFT, RUBBERISED OR RUBBER-COATED MESH substantially reduces this, and it is required on many fisheries for exactly that reason.
WHAT HAND LANDING DOES WELL. No mesh contact at all, and for a modest fish handled with wet hands over water it is quick and clean. It also removes a piece of equipment that has to be carried, cleaned and dried between waters.
WHAT HAND LANDING DOES BADLY. It requires the fish to be played to a standstill first, which lengthens the fight. It requires gripping, which removes mucus and — done wrongly, by squeezing the body or holding by the gills or the jaw at an angle — can cause internal injury. And it puts fingers close to hooks in a fish that is not finished moving.
WHAT THE EVIDENCE SUPPORTS. Landing method affects injury and mucus loss, with knotted nets performing worst in the comparisons available. It is a real but second-order variable compared with air exposure, fight duration and hooking location — which is worth stating, because attention spent arguing about nets is attention not spent on the three things that matter more.
THE PRACTICAL POSITION. Use a knotless net for any fish large enough to need support, a wet hand for small fish handled over water, and neither for a fish that can be unhooked in the water without lifting it at all. That last option is the best one available and is used least.
AND THE THING BETWEEN THE TWO: leaving the fish in the net, in the water, while the hook is removed and the camera found. That gets the support of the net with almost none of the exposure.
The size above which this stops being a preference
Hand landing and netting are presented as two ways of doing the same thing, and for small fish they are. There is a threshold above which one of them becomes a welfare failure, and it is worth stating where.
BELOW ABOUT A POUND, HANDS ARE FREQUENTLY BETTER. A small fish lifted briefly with wet hands, unhooked in the water or over a mat and returned in seconds has had less contact with less abrasive material than one dragged through mesh. The mesh is the point: a net is not a neutral container, and a fish rolled in it loses scales and mucus.
ABOVE THAT, THE ARGUMENT REVERSES AND KEEPS REVERSING. A fish's body is supported by water and is not built to be held up by any single point. As mass rises, the load on the spine, the jaw and the internal organs rises with it, and a fish held vertically by the jaw or gripped round the body is being damaged in ways that are invisible and frequently fatal days later. A net — or better, a net and a mat — spreads that load.
WHICH MAKES SIZE THE VARIABLE AND NOT SPECIES OR CONVENIENCE. The same argument applies to a large trout, a large bass, a pike, a carp or a cod. It is about mass and about how the animal is built, not about which discipline is being practised.
THE MESH IS THE OTHER HALF AND IT IS A REAL CHOICE. Knotted mesh concentrates pressure and takes scales and mucus; fine knotless mesh does far less damage; and rubberised or coated mesh does less again and does not tangle hooks, which shortens the whole handling event. Many fisheries now require knotless or rubberised nets, which is a rule rather than advice.
AND THERE IS A THIRD OPTION THE COMPARISON OMITS. Unhooking in the water, without landing the fish at all, is the lowest-cost outcome available and is possible far more often than it is done — from a bank, from a boat and from a kayak. A long-handled disgorger or forceps and a willingness to lean over does more for a fish than any choice between the other two.
AND FOR SOME SPECIES A NET IS A HAZARD TO THE ANGLER. A pike carrying two trebles in a mesh net is the standard route to a hook in a hand, which is why large rubberised or knotless nets are the pike-fishing convention and why unhooking tools are laid out before the fish arrives.
Authoritative guidance
Stated by a fisheries authority, scientific institute or recognised angling body. Authoritative, but summarising rather than demonstrating.
- Angling Trust guidance for anglers — Angling Trust (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Guidance to anglers on handling, landing, unhooking and returning fish, and on the equipment choices that affect each.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Humane Harvesting of Fish: percussive stunning and percussive equipment — Humane Slaughter Association (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Welfare of caught fish, including handling, support, air exposure and the consequences of each.States this directlyNot yet checked
- Freshwater Fishing — Macdonald & Jane's, 1975 (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Comprehensive British angling practice including tackle choice, presentation and the reasoning behind the choices anglers make between them.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Coarse Fishing — A. & C. Black, 1912 (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Classical coarse angling practice: baits, presentation, landing and the conventions around each.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Where to go next
Gear this affects
What these connections rest on (1)
Practitioner consensus — 1 connection
Widely and independently recommended by experienced anglers and specialist sources. This is real angling knowledge, not proof: controlled evidence for it is limited, and FishingHQ records it as convention rather than as a demonstrated effect.
Landing and unhooking equipment
A mechanism edge from a record to the reasoning beneath it, resting on practice reported consistently across independent sources rather than on experiment.
- Understanding the Complexity of Catch-and-Release in Recreational Fishing — Reviews in Fisheries Science 15:75–167, 2007 (Scientific literature)Relied on for: Review of catch-and-release science including hooking location, landing method, handling and post-release survival.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Do we need species-specific guidelines for catch-and-release recreational angling? — Biodiversity and Conservation 14:1195–1209, 2005 (Scientific literature)Relied on for: Synthesis of terminal tackle effects on hooking injury and post-release survival across recreational fisheries.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Related reading
What these connections rest on (1)
Practitioner consensus — 1 connection
Widely and independently recommended by experienced anglers and specialist sources. This is real angling knowledge, not proof: controlled evidence for it is limited, and FishingHQ records it as convention rather than as a demonstrated effect.
Why a fish has a slime coat
A mechanism edge from a record to the reasoning beneath it, resting on practice reported consistently across independent sources rather than on experiment.
- Understanding the Complexity of Catch-and-Release in Recreational Fishing — Reviews in Fisheries Science 15:75–167, 2007 (Scientific literature)Relied on for: Review of catch-and-release science including hooking location, landing method, handling and post-release survival.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Do we need species-specific guidelines for catch-and-release recreational angling? — Biodiversity and Conservation 14:1195–1209, 2005 (Scientific literature)Relied on for: Synthesis of terminal tackle effects on hooking injury and post-release survival across recreational fisheries.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
How this compares
What these connections rest on (1)
Practitioner consensus — 1 connection
Widely and independently recommended by experienced anglers and specialist sources. This is real angling knowledge, not proof: controlled evidence for it is limited, and FishingHQ records it as convention rather than as a demonstrated effect.
Air exposure, and the clock that starts when a fish leaves the water
Two records a reader is deciding between, joined so that the trade is visible from either side.
- Understanding the Complexity of Catch-and-Release in Recreational Fishing — Reviews in Fisheries Science 15:75–167, 2007 (Scientific literature)Relied on for: Review of catch-and-release science including hooking location, landing method, handling and post-release survival.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Do we need species-specific guidelines for catch-and-release recreational angling? — Biodiversity and Conservation 14:1195–1209, 2005 (Scientific literature)Relied on for: Synthesis of terminal tackle effects on hooking injury and post-release survival across recreational fisheries.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Safety reading
What these connections rest on (1)
Authoritative guidance — 1 connection
Stated by a fisheries authority, scientific institute or recognised angling body. Authoritative, but summarising rather than demonstrating.
Handling fish safely
Written because the record's subject IS a handling choice and it carried no edge to the handling topic. Landing method is one of the two or three variables most directly under an angler's control that bears on post-release survival.
- Understanding the Complexity of Catch-and-Release in Recreational Fishing — Reviews in Fisheries Science 15:75–167, 2007 (Scientific literature)Relied on for: Review of catch-and-release outcomes including hooking location, hook type and the handling factors bearing on post-release survival.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Do we need species-specific guidelines for catch-and-release recreational angling? — Biodiversity and Conservation 14:1195–1209, 2005 (Scientific literature)Relied on for: Analysis of whether species-specific catch-and-release guidelines are needed, including the effect of terminal tackle choice on hooking injury.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Sources for this page
- Understanding the Complexity of Catch-and-Release in Recreational Fishing — Reviews in Fisheries Science 15:75–167, 2007 (Scientific literature)Relied on for: Review of catch-and-release science including hooking location, handling, landing method and post-release survival.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Do we need species-specific guidelines for catch-and-release recreational angling? — Biodiversity and Conservation 14:1195–1209, 2005 (Scientific literature)Relied on for: Synthesis of terminal tackle effects on hooking injury and post-release survival across recreational fisheries.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Still-Water Angling — MacGibbon & Kee, 1953 (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Stillwater angling practice including tackle design reasoning, hooks, landing and the mechanics of playing fish.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
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