Let's talk about cast nets....

[Yaker]

I carry a cast net in my kayak,our state restricts the diameter to no larger than 6'( �� ).I have a few reasons for using a cast net ,1-There is a part of me that loves to learn and use alternative ways to make a go of things without depending on a store.2- there are no bait stores within 50 miles of me,that carry anything but worms / crickets as live bait.

[Northforker]

I caught a few dozen 3" shad last night with my 7' x 3/8" cast net. , they lived about an hour in my engle bait keeper.

3/8" net mesh is too big for 3" shad, about half of them were half in and half out of the mesh, very difficult to remove, killed several of them just pushing them out of the mesh.

Fished with the shad for about an hour, no crappie. If I can figure out how to keep them alive, I'll buy a 1/4" mesh net.

[lowe175]

You need a round tank for shad and a way to keep the water moving. A good bait tank is a must if you do it a lot. Rock salt helps among other tricks. You can keep them in a bucket for a hour or so if you just put a few in.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

[CrappiePappy]

I caught a few dozen 3" shad last night with my 7' x 3/8" cast net. , they lived about an hour in my engle bait keeper.

3/8" net mesh is too big for 3" shad, about half of them were half in and half out of the mesh, very difficult to remove, killed several of them just pushing them out of the mesh.

Fished with the shad for about an hour, no crappie. If I can figure out how to keep them alive, I'll buy a 1/4" mesh net.

Similar experience when using my 3/8" mesh cast net ... some being caught in the mesh & injured or had many scales removed from being pulled or shaken from the mesh. I also did not have a round bait tank or livewell in the boat I had at that time, so they had to be put into the front livewell. I even added a pump to aerate the water ... something on the order of this, but not this brand :



It did help keep the Shad alive longer than without one, but the downside was that the water foamed up pretty bad in short order and the power of the spray knocked even more scales off them. The one I had had a foam ring around the bottom of the pump, where the intake holes were, and that foam ring would clog up with scales pretty quick & have to be removed & cleaned & then replaced back onto the pump to keep it from burning out. It didn't bother me so much back then because I was mainly using the Shad as Hybrid Striper bait, and it didn't necessarily have to be "alive & kicking" to be functional bait.

I bought the 1/4" mesh net with the intention of catching smaller sized Shad for use as Crappie bait .... even knowing the downside of the livewell problems. I do know I tried it on several different occasions, but really don't remember whether or not any Crappie were caught with them. Probably not many, if any, or otherwise I would have remembered (& probably kept using it). That was back in the days when my buds & I were mostly using minnows (couple of decades ago), and hadn't quite gone primarily to using jigs ... so "free bait" was a plus, as long as it was schooled on the surface !!

Knowing what I know now, back then, I would probably have gotten a 8' net, rather than the 6' nets ... and I don't think they would have been much more, if any more, difficult to throw.