Best Carp Landing Nets: A Total Fishing Tackle Review

Like rods, landing nets can be a very personal choice, and although it is one of the most expensive nets we sell, we just couldn't look past the Korda Springbow Landing Net as our top choice.

Korda took inspiration from a classic design from the past. Available in the early eighties by a shop in North London, Dons of Edmonton. Their Springbow was a brown fibreglass net, featuring a very unique, heavy stainless spreader tube, but that said, it was the net of the era and the only serious choice for the carp fisher of the day!

The fashion of today seems to be for very thin handles similar to or matching an angler’s carp rods.

Korda has gone completely against this trend. For performance, it was incredibly important that both the arms and pole had inherent stiffness. By having a very low-diameter pole, you increase weight because you must increase the wall thickness. Thin handles are simply not as good to hold in use. A higher diameter handle increases stiffness, is easier to use and more comfortable to grip. Korda can utilise a thinner wall section without having to compromise on strength or weight.

The design has a 6’ handle that tapers down from 23 to 18mm. Manufactured from ultra-light, high-performing carbon fibre in a stunning satin black finish. With a beautifully turned 316 stainless steel point in the end. This has helped to create a net that is so light that, when fully assembled and in use, lays perfectly on the surface of the water without having to use any kind of net float.

One of the key design points was to make a ‘statement’ spreader block. Something extremely light, very strong and unique in appearance. From concept to production, Korda updated the design four times over a period of about two and a half years. The final version is stunning to look at. Engineered by JAG, it’s incredibly light, but more importantly, so very easy to use and assemble the arms into. As you offer the arms up to the block, you’ll notice inside, it has a slight oval shape to it; Korda has machined the block so that it has what they call a “leading” edge.

This makes additional space for the arm as it's flexed and pushed into place. The arms exit the block at the perfect angle of 91 degrees. This, along with using the stiffest arms they could make without compromising assembly, give a truly lovely shape to each assembled net. Each arm has an oversized machined, anodised aluminium, rounded end designed so that it won’t push through the mesh and damage it. This part holds the thick green cord between the arms, with zero stretch and a perfect curve in the arms. This keeps everything as tight as possible and helps reduce drag as it’s pushed through the water.

The aluminium spreader block is machined out on both front and back faces (you can see the arms sitting inside). This feature further reduces weight and gives it “chassis-like styling”. Korda has added a small slot on the front face that fits a 15mm isotope (NOT included) and is engraved on the back with the Spring Bow logo. The final touch was to spray the block in a hard-wearing, ceramic, Gun Smoke finish.

There are three versions, 42”, 46” and 50”; each one comes with a medium-depth net in full Hexmesh. The net part is deep enough for the angler that chooses to push the handle into the lakebed with the arms far enough above the water to retain and stop any carp from jumping free after capture!

So, to answer the question we asked at the very start, we think the Korda net is breaking the mould for net design, the stiffness and lightness of the handle is a game-changer, and with JAG behind the spreader block, only good things are going to happen. It's a big thumbs up from us!

A final finishing touch is that all nets come in a heavy-duty Korda Dark Kamo sleeve which has separate pockets for both handle and the arms.