Admittedly, this is one of the most crucial times in boating an extremely large fish. The majority of successful big fish anglers agree that the net should be placed in the water at a slight angle, and the fish lead head first, into it. I know this sounds absurd, but hundreds upon hundreds of big fish are lost every season because of this error in judgment. Netting technique should be discussed with your partner prior to actually fishing for the day. This way both of you know what to expect from one another.
Some trophy anglers use and swear by black nets.
The handle and hoop are completely black. Sometimes even the netting material itself is black. This makes perfectly good sense. If it makes sense to you too, then you might wish to either spray paint your existing net or remove the netting material and wrap the handle and hoop with black electrician's tape. There is nothing worse than trying to get a ten pound largemouth or seven pound smallmouth into a net that's far too small.