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Random Quote: There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.
Don't you hate it when you cast a 10 footer on a school of baitfish, bring up 42 thousand baits...only three fall out of the bottom and you have to pick 41,997 sardines out of your mesh. Any tricks to get them out? I pinch off the heads but then I have little fish heads all over the boat, shaking the net gets a lot out but you and the boat get covered in scales.
Pinching off heads is the only thing you can do in that situation Lud......I made the same mistake once this year and it took 20 minutes with 4 people to clean the net. The good news is if you do this you have a bucket of chum ready to be tossed overboard as you fish.
There's one other trick you can try when you've "Christmas treed" your net.... It's not easy and a bit hard on the net. Tie your net line around the horn so the brailles lie straight then cinch the line around your bow cleat allowing the net to hang over the side. Next you gradually accelerate until you're on plane and the net is dragging in the water. It will clean out most of the trapped carcasses, but it's dangerous since the net will be in your prop if you haven't secured it properly and it's hard on the net because of the water pressure you're employing...
Just be glad you didn't toss your net on a submerged tree or on top of a large (and suddenly angry) shark. That's a common hazard where I use both of my nets... Good luck.
__________________ Tight Lines
Capt Bob LeMay
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Just be glad you didn't toss your net on a submerged tree or on top of a large (and suddenly angry) shark. That's a common hazard where I use both of my nets... Good luck.
Speaking of tossing on a large fish.......make certain you attach your net to your arm with a breakaway velco strap. This strap should pass through the eye of the pre-made loop on the net. Should you toss on a shark or worse.....a dolphin......the vecro will break open and quite possibly save your life.
Just be glad you didn't toss your net on a submerged tree or on top of a large (and suddenly angry) shark. That's a common hazard where I use both of my nets... Good luck.
Speaking of tossing on a large fish.......make certain you attach your net to your arm with a breakaway velco strap. This strap should pass through the eye of the pre-made loop on the net. Should you toss on a shark or worse.....a dolphin......the vecro will break open and quite possibly save your life.
Never thought of this scenario, scary...it would make a great YouTube video though. Explain this velcro thing some more.
Simply get a single piece of velcro that is 8 inches long. You put that velcro strap though the loop at the end of the line. Use the velcro to secure the cast net line to your wrist.
Don't you hate it when you cast a 10 footer on a school of baitfish, bring up 42 thousand baits...only three fall out of the bottom and you have to pick 41,997 sardines out of your mesh. Any tricks to get them out? I pinch off the heads but then I have little fish heads all over the boat, shaking the net gets a lot out but you and the boat get covered in scales.
If you used a smaller mesh, that would solve the problem
Yeah a 1/4 mesh would solve the problem but I only carry two nets, a 10' 3/8 mesh (standard for this area) and a 6' 3/8 mesh. Problem is the bait size can't be determined until they have filled your net, usually the baits are larger than what is hanging out in the area right now.
I gotta say the scaled sardines even though small (about 2-2 1/2 inches) right now, they hung in there all day long with only about a dozen dead at the end of the day. So the trade off was ok, pick heads for 20 minutes vs. dead bait in the livewell.
When cast net becomes a gill net... 
