Spoke with Billy at The Fish Net Company, Jonesville, La.
Asked about how to properly utilize these things. Apparently they were never designed for blind dragging for shad. He said that when you spot shad on the surface, then you deploy the net, starting on the outside of the school and start making a circle around the school. Circle the school of shad making tighter and tighter circles, slowly rounding them up, till the net starts pulling through the mass. When you feel it start to load up, then turn back out to the outside and leave the boat in gear moving forward, idle down and pull the trawl in. This leaves the school intact in case you need to make another pass.

I was hoping that you could just drag and catch, but apparently you need to have a visual on a school for them to be effective. Hope this info will help. Thanks to whiteperchjerker and randallewis for the offers. I think I will try the cast net route, cause the odds of spotting a school when I want some live shad, may not provide like the cast net will. Thanks again guys for the offers.

boatstall