About Promar: Located in Torrance, CA, Promar has been manufacturing fishing nets and fishing tackle for over 50 years. Their goal is a commitment to innovation along with high quality. Promar already has a full line of nets for fresh and saltwater, crabbing, clamming, and they continually design superior tools for fishermen.

Introducing the Promar Dan Hernandez Rubber landing net

Impressions: First impressions on the Promar Dan Hernandez Signature Series landing net was that it felt completely solid. The gold colored framing is constructed of rugged aluminum tubes showed no signs of give through the initial inspection. The netting material is made of thermoplastic rubber that is supposed to makes the net 100% snag proof and causes less harm to the fish's scales. In addition the rock solid handle is 60 inches in length when extended and during transportation and storage, it can be collapsed to 29". You won't find many other rubber nets of this hoop size out on the market. The Promar landing net has a wide opening of 26" X 28", a respectable opening size for those larger species.

The LN-628 has a good hoop size for bigger fish like the King salmon

 
Field Tests: Take out the lures with the treble hooks and go fishing. That's exactly what we did to test out the Promar rubber landing net that's designed to be 100% snag proof. We headed out fishing for thrashing stripers, rolling lingcod and cabezon, and the delicate skinned salmon to see exactly how the Promar net performs in the field.

Construction: The construction of the frame and handle is excellent.  The aluminum frame is built with solid tubing that has minimal flex when netting a big fish. During our test we netted many Lingcod, Cabezons, and King salmon, many of which were well over 10 pounds, and the Promar Dan Hernandez Signature Series landing net handled these lunkers with authority. The retractable handle uses a double locking mechanism that provides zero movement at the joint and will not slip even when it's being torqued by the weight of your heavy game fish.

An octagonal handle design and double locking pins mean a secure and non-twisting net. The joint is absolutely solid

The Netting: The thermoplastic rubber netting is actually really nice.  It's thick yet flexible and can actually hold big fish as the rubber stretches under load. Without anything inside the net, the depth of the net is about 19 inches. Upon initial inspection you might consider that it is not deep enough, but its flexibility allows the net to extend to a maximum depth of 40 inches!

Rubber netting performs extremely well preventing nasty tangles with treble hooks

The rubber landing net is awesome when it comes in contact with any type of hooks, especially trebles. With traditional nets, the treble hooks often get snagged and tangled as the fish thrash and roll around after being netted. We have used standard cotton or nylon nets before and when the stripers whip around the inside of the net or when the lingcod rolls like an alligator does when it seizes its meal, it would create a chaos of tangles especially with dual or even triple trebles.  With the Promar LN-628 this isn't an issue at all.  During our field tests not one time did we have to fuss around with undoing the treble hooks from the rubber netting. The hooks do get hung on the net once a while, but they come off easily and quickly because they do not physically penetrate the webbing. Not 100% snag proof, but definitely 100% tangle-free! In terms of being more easy on the fish, we found that the rubber material did help, allowing the fish to glide on the Promar net instead of stripping slime and scales off, but it was still not good to a point where you can catch and release a King or Silver salmon without any harm.

Volume!  The Promar rubber net material is flexible, being able to reach a depth of 40 inches, plenty to hold a large fish without its tail sticking out

The Feel: The Promar rubber landing net has a rugged construction and tangle-less rubber netting, being able to handle fish of many sizes without any problems. But we found that the weight of this net opposed to our non-rubber salmon net is a bit on the heavy side. Being heavy you can't quickly scoop a fish from underneath in one swift motion. Instead, the weight makes it slow and also the rubber netting gives some water resistance in the water. Great for fish that won't freak out when it sees the boat or net, but for fish that have much fight power, a lighter net will do the job better. We compared the Promar LN-628 to other brands of rubber nets and the weights are about the same, which shows that almost all the rubber nets on the market are somewhat on the heavy side. This is something we have to sacrifice if we want a tangle-less netting material, and we say it's definitely worth the trade when it comes to fish such as striped bass.

The octagonal shaped handle provides a firm anti-rotating grip when netting the fish. We were able to gain a better grip with this type of handle in comparison to round handles on other nets. Since it has 8 sides to this handle, the comfort level is still good.

Netting a Vermilion that weighed over 5 pounds.  The frame, handle, and netting of the Promar net is extremely durable

 
Durability: In the durability category, the Promar landing net is great.  The frame can take plenty of punishment thanks to the tough tubing used for both the frame and handle. The frame will not bend out of shape even when hauling in a big 20+ pound fish that's thrashing around as you bring it into the boat. The netting is also excellent in quality, and is flexible, won't dry easily, and is not easily damaged by vehement fish. I wouldn't leave it out in the sun for days, but leaving it out to dry after each trip won't cause any problems to this rubber netting. After months of use the frame shows no signs of corrosion, but like other gear it should be rinsed with freshwater after each use. Definitely a well built net that's made to last season after season.

Pluses and Minuses:

Conclusion: Like all other tackle, a net comes in all sizes, shapes, and material, and it is important to find the net that fits your particular application. Promar introduces a large net for saltwater game fish that's endorsed by Dan Hernandez who is featured on a television show called Sport Fishing with Dan Hernandez. The Promar LN-628 landing net is made of thermoplastic rubber that is tangle-less which is great for fish that thrash hard when netted, especially when your lure or bait sports treble hooks. The Promar rubber landing net is well built and has a huge volume to hold fish of many sizes. If you don't mind the additional weight of a rubber net, and fish with lures with treble hooks, you should definitely consider the Promar Dan Hernandez Rubber landing net as your next landing tool, this net can be used for many applications, and time saved from not having to untangle lures means more time spent doing exactly what you sought to do in the first place.....fish.