[tkwalker]

Thanks Jim ... Great info .. and to be honest I haven't thought about cast nets in a while ... I guess do to my age and can't remember #### anymore unless I write it down , and then I forget where I left the note... The wife and I attended a Seminar in East Tennessee Held by a Eastern Striper Club ... The guest speaker and was also a renowned Cast net Thrower from South Carolina held school for us one Saturday around 2001 ...

Before I left I, as well as my 145 pound wife could throw the max Tennessee legal size net .. 10 ft. radius/20 foot dia. ... cast net ... His method was Asian ... Nothing was in your mouth ... We could pitch this net from a launch from between our legs as well from the arms and after a little practice ... with a full envelope 80% of the time ...

I purchased all of my nets from Memphis Net and Twine ... I used menhaden nets only .. Not light .. but very effective ... The larger the net ...means less throws ... Also more expensive to replace when you rip them on bottom structure, especially around Dams with hidden Rebar ... such as Cordell Hull ... I can tell you where ever one of those are ...

The down side of pitching big nets is #1 Safety .. Always carry a sheath Knife chest high on your body that can be reached easily when yanked off deck by these nets ... (Also wear a CO2 vest )It happened to me twice and the knives and vest saved My life twice...

The nets are used for catching Gizzard shad ... Didn't care about threadfins ... (to small for my application) And you can't catch Skippies in a cast net ... It is rare !! ... So after wearing out my Rotary Cuffs and getting older ... Had to get smarter ... Got tired about worrying over finding bait early every morning...

So that is when I bought My 300 gal refrigerated tanks (high $$) and bought farm trout for bait ... Now we would still catch Skippies ... This was half the fun for my clients ...

Hope this little insight on cast nets helps ... But there are many methods for throwing Nets ... And you do not have to throw the largest ... Do your research ... And good luck ... BUT BE SAFE IN A RIVER ENVIROMENT !! <'TK><