With Salient headquarters based where the 1992 movie, A River Runs Through It was filmed, it’s hard not to blur the lines between work and outdoor play. Especially when a local company tasked us to reinvent one of the oldest pastimes known to man… fishing.
Blue Ribbon Nets, is a local company that has handcrafted heirloom-quality nets for over a decade. Using a 3D Laser scanner, we reverse engineered a hand-sketched net design that was drawn on a foam dome. Utilizing the collected 3D data, our Team was able to design a moldable net bag just as the inventor had envisioned it.
What makes one net better then the next? Most competing polymer fishing nets are made of heavy polyvinyl chloride (PVC) which has been controversial due to high chemical production. Blue Ribbon Nets’ AquaFade netting is formulated out of a lightweight recyclable polymer that is extremely strong, resilient and a more eco-friendly choice for outdoorsmen. Many net bags on the market have abrasive netting, and are not an environmentally conscious choice for catch-and-release fishing.
So, back to blurring the lines between work and play… Design wouldn’t be complete without a little research and product testing. Some of our Team was able to disappear into the mountains this summer for a few days of camping and product testing. Benefits of the new AquaFade technology that stood out were
- The net bag was far less likely to be tangled with the fish hook then standard netting,
- The clear material was virtually invisible in the water, making scooping fish much easier,
- And most importantly, the soft material maintained low-impact contact on the fish’s skin allowing for more ethical catch-and-release.
After field-testing the AquaFade net, we’re true fans of Blue Ribbon Nets. Check out a video of our excursion here, and then go try some catch and release of your own!
David Yakos is VP and Director of Creativity at Salient Technologies, Inc.