I love to catch my bait as part of the total fishing thing. Lately the harbor has been LOADED with menhaden and there have been so many finger mullet cruising that I just can’t resist throwing the net when I’m out in the slop.
Well unless you paddle an Ultimate or like to swim I wouldn’t suggest stadning up to throw a net in swells, slop and chop that I run into on the ICW, bigger rivers or the harbor.
Here’s a load I use for sitting down throwing a cast net. Small nets of 3 or 4 feet are easy, you don’t need this load for them. This is for 5 and 6 footers when you want to get a good spread.
Take small loops of retrieve line in your dominant hand (I’m a lefty so I take loops in my left hand and throw left to right). You only want the loop to dangle about a foot
grab below the horn in your dominant hand
grab the net about 1/2 - 2/3 of the way down in your dominant hand. This will make a loop about the same size as the retrieve line loops.
Now turn your hand palm facing up and place the lead line over your index finger.
use your weak hand to grab the lead line about 2 feet from where it’s in your index finger and place the lead line on your middle finger. (you’ll have a dangling bit of lead line about the same size as the loops of retrieve line)
repeat and place lead line on your ring finger.
Now with your weak hand grab the lead line about 2-3 feet away from where it’s resting on your ring finger and gather about 1/2 of the remaining lead line in your palm.
You should now have two hands full of net. Throw from your dominant side to your weak side making sure to roll your dominant hand from palm up to palm down as it crosses over your weak hand.
Make sure your weak hand rolls from palm vertical to palm up as your throw.
It sounds complicated, but it’s really not. I can throw my 6 footer sitting down now with relative ease. You DO NOT want to do a lot of blind casting. A 6 foot net gets heavy fast when your holding it shoulder high with your hands as high as your head.
Thanks for the post and video. I manage to throw my net well enough to standing and catch bait occasionally but have been wanting to learn how to throw without putting the line in my mouth and from my kayak. This example looks to be very easy to learn and I will be putting it to the test soon.
I don’t kayak fish anymore but, I always read the kayak thread just because you guys are so dang friendly. Keep up the good example and I wish it would rub off on the rest of the threads.
Reel good instructional video. I always worried about you guys throwing cast nets from kayaks. [:0]
We’re not that friendly, we just know not to f*#k with somebody crazy enough to paddle miles and miles to find fish.
It’s a good group over here. So far not much of the pizzin and moanin you see in some of the other forums. “You can only catch a king of you …” or “The only way to shark is…” or “is my boat big enough to…” PFFFFFFFFT
There is nothing - absolutely nothing- half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Kenneth Grahame
The first couple of times I threw a net out of the yak I was standing, but after nearly face planting into an oyster bank I decided to give it a whirl sitting down. I don’t get as much distance, but I get the same amount of bait. I do like that video and might try the “clean mouth” method, but sometimes I just like the taste of pluff mud. Tastes like…Victory
To all,
I’d suggest throwing it a few times sitting in your yard before you hit the water. You’ll get comfortable and gain skills to make your actual fishing time more productive.
There is nothing - absolutely nothing- half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Kenneth Grahame
Definitely move anything you might get snagged on from behind you. I was using a 5 gallon bucket to empty the net in, but one of those rectangular storage bins from Wal mart works even better. Find a good creek at low tide and you can easily get enough shrimp for bait and dinner. I may have to get one of those beer helmets though as I always end up spillling it or filling it with mud.
Definitely move anything you might get snagged on from behind you. I was using a 5 gallon bucket to empty the net in, but one of those rectangular storage bins from Wal mart works even better. Find a good creek at low tide and you can easily get enough shrimp for bait and dinner. I may have to get one of those beer helmets though as I always end up spillling it or filling it with mud.
RW
Good point. I nearly yanked the yak out from under me a couple of times last year when I caught the lead line on the paddle keeper hook.
There is nothing - absolutely nothing- half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Kenneth Grahame
We really need to have a Bushy Park Flotilla soon…
Keep up the good example and I wish it would rub off on the rest of the threads.