Learning how to throw a cast net gives you a tool that catches a whole school of baitfish in one throw, which means more food for less time on the water. A net works where a hook never will. It catches fish too small to bite, fish that are not feeding, and dozens of fish at once. Add a gill net and a dip net, and you have a small set of tools that can fill a bucket or fish through the night while you sleep.
You may have fished with a rod for years, or you may never have held a net at all. Either way, netting is a skill you can learn in a few weekends. A cast net is the place to start, because it is legal in many places for bait and you can practice it in your own yard. Gill nets and dip nets come next, along with the rules that decide when you can use each one.
Start by picking up a small bait net, 4 to 6 feet in radius, and learning to load it the same way every time. A good load is most of a good throw.
Choosing and Loading a Cast Net
Choose the right net and load it the same way every time, and you get a net that opens on the first try. The right size, mesh and weight match the net to your water and your fish. A clean load sets up every throw that follows, and the throw itself comes right after.
Radius and Your Reach
Radius is the distance from the horn at the center to the lead line at the edge. A 4 foot net covers about 50 square feet. A 6 foot net covers about 113 square feet, and an 8 foot net covers about 200. Bigger nets catch more but take more strength and practice to open. If you are a smaller adult or teaching a teenager, start with a 4 foot net. The small net is also an asset: it is light, it opens easily, and you can throw it fifty times in an hour without tiring. If you are strong and patient, move up to 6 or 8 feet once your small net opens every time.
Mesh and the Fish You Want
Mesh size is the width of one square of netting, measured side to side. Use 3/16 to 1/4 inch mesh for tiny bait like glass minnows. Use 3/8 inch mesh for finger mullet, shad and menhaden. Use 1/2 to 1 inch mesh for food fish such as full grown mullet. Small mesh holds tiny fish but drags in the water and sinks slowly. Pair it with heavier lead if you fish deep water.
Lead Weight and Current
Look for about 1 pound of lead per foot of radius for calm, shallow water. A 6 foot net with 6 pounds of lead is a good all around choice. Go to 1.5 pounds per foot for deep water or strong current. Extra lead sinks the net before the fish escape out the sides. The cost is a heavier throw, so build up to it.
Loading the Hand Line and Coils
Slip the loop at the end of the hand line over your non-throwing wrist. Keep it snug but loose enough to slide off if the net snags hard. Coil the hand line in loose loops about a foot across into that same hand. Coil all of it so nothing tangles at your feet. Hold the horn in that hand with the coils, and let the net hang straight. Shake it so the lead line hangs free and untwisted. Reach down about two thirds of the way and fold that part of the net up into the same hand. The lead line should now hang near your knees.
The Shoulder Hold
Pick up a section of lead line with your throwing hand and lay it over your opposite shoulder. Take about one third of the lead line there. Then reach down and grab a second section about one third further around the circle. The lead line is now split in three: on your shoulder, in your throwing hand, and hanging free. This hold spreads the weight and opens wide nets well.
The Split Hold
Grab the lead line and divide it in half between your two hands. Your non-throwing hand holds its half along with the horn and coils. Your throwing hand holds the other half. This hold works well with small nets and gives you a quick, simple load when baitfish are moving fast.
How to Throw a Cast Net That Opens Flat
Make the net open flat, sink fast and close tight, and you bring home the whole school instead of a few strays. A good throw is a smooth swing, a clean release and a patient wait. Reading the water and closing the net come right after.
The Throw, Step by Step
Step 1. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, facing the water.
Step 2. Turn your shoulders and hips away from the water on your throwing side. Keep the net low and the lead line just off the ground.
Step 3. Swing back toward the target in one smooth arc, turning your hips first.
Step 4. Release the lead line in your throwing hand when it points at the target. The shoulder section and the rest of the net will follow it off.
Step 5. Open the hand that holds the coils so the hand line pays out freely. Keep the loop on your wrist.
Step 6. Follow through with your arm pointed at the water. The spin of your swing spreads the leads into a circle.
Step 7. Let the net sink. Watch the hand line go slack when the leads touch bottom.
Pancakes and Early Releases
A pancake is a net that lands in a clump and will not open. It comes from too little spin or a late release. Turn your hips more and let go a little sooner, and the leads fan out. A net thrown too early flies off to the side or lands short at your feet. Wait until your hand points at the target, then let go. If the net opens in a half moon, one hand is holding on too long. Release both sections in one smooth motion.
Reading Where Baitfish Hold
Look for nervous water, a patch of ripples on a calm surface. Watch for flashes of silver, diving birds and jumping mullet. Baitfish gather along shorelines, at points, in eddies behind rocks and around dock lights at night. On the coast, shallow flats fill with bait on a rising tide. Throw so the net lands just ahead of the school, because the fish will move into it. Pick bottoms of sand or mud. Rocks and snags tear nets.
Closing the Net on the Catch
Give the hand line one short, firm pull once the net is on the bottom. This starts the brail lines drawing the lead line together. Then pull in hand over hand at a steady pace. The leads close into a purse and trap the fish inside. Lift the net over a bucket, raise the horn, and the leads open to drop the catch. Rinse the net in fresh water after salt water so the lines stay soft.
Practice on the Lawn
Lay a hula hoop or a rope circle on the grass about 15 feet away. Throw at it until your net opens nine times out of ten. A dry net is lighter than a wet one, so finish each session with a few throws in water. Ten minutes a night for two weeks teaches you how to throw a cast net better than a whole day of frustration at the shore. Kids can learn alongside you, and every family member who can throw is one more person who can bring in food.
Gill Nets and Dip Nets
Set a gill net and it fishes while you gather wood, build shelter or sleep. Keep a dip net and you can scoop fish from shallows, spawning runs and traps. These are the passive and the simple sides of netting. Both carry strict rules, covered right after.
How a Gill Net Catches
A gill net is a wall of mesh with floats on the top line and weights on the bottom line. A fish swims into it and pushes its head through a mesh. The body is too big to pass. When the fish backs up, the twine slips behind the gill covers and holds it. The mesh size decides which fish you catch.
Setting Across a Current
Stretch the net across a narrow channel, a creek mouth or the edge of a current. Fish moving up and down the water run straight into it. Anchor each end to a stake, tree or heavy rock. Set it at a slight angle to the flow so debris slides off instead of piling up. In still water, run it from shore out toward deeper water, where fish travel along the drop.
Mesh for the Target Fish
Gill net mesh is measured as stretch mesh, from knot to opposite knot with the square pulled tight. Use about 1.5 to 2 inch stretch mesh for panfish. Use 2.5 to 3.5 inches for trout and similar fish. Use 4 inches or more for large fish such as carp. Smaller fish swim through, and larger fish bounce off. That makes mesh size your tool for picking the catch.
Checking the Set
Check a gill net every few hours. Fish die in the net, and in warm water they spoil fast. Turtles and crabs will eat them before you do. Frequent checks also let you release ducks, turtles and other animals alive. Pull the net out of the water when you are not fishing it.
Making a Gill Net from Paracord Inner Strands
Pull the inner strands out of 550 paracord. Most cord holds seven strands, so 100 feet of cord gives you about 700 feet of strand. Tie a whole length of paracord between two trees at chest height for the top line. Cut strands about twice as long as the depth you want. Fold each strand over the top line with a girth hitch so two ends hang down. Space the hitches about half your stretch mesh apart. Next, tie the right end of one pair to the left end of the next pair with an overhand knot. Repeat across the row, then move down one mesh and tie the opposite pairs. The knots form a row of diamonds. Cut a flat stick as wide as half your stretch mesh and use it as a gauge so every mesh comes out even. Tie a bottom line along the last row. Add floats of dry wood or sealed bottles to the top, and small stones in cloth pockets to the bottom. A 3 foot by 6 foot net takes an afternoon of steady work.
The Dip Net for Shallows and Traps
A dip net is a bag of mesh on a hoop with a handle. Use it in shallows where fish crowd against the bank. Use it during spawning runs, when smelt, suckers, shad or herring pack into small streams. Use it to lift fish out of a trap without reaching in by hand. To build one, bend a green sapling into a hoop and lash the ends to a handle. Hang a bag of paracord strand mesh from the hoop. In a pinch, a T-shirt with the neck tied off works as a bag.
Where Nets Are Legal
Know the rules for each net, and you can practice today without risk to your license, your gear or the fish your family may need later. The law sets the line for normal times. A well packed kit and three clear steps close out the plan.
Gill Net Rules
Gill nets are illegal for the public in most US waters today. Commercial and tribal fisheries may use them under permits, but a private angler generally may not. A gill net belongs to a true emergency, when normal rules and normal food supplies no longer apply. Build one to learn the skill, then store it.
The 2011 film Contagion shows what that kind of emergency looks like: a fast-moving pandemic empties grocery shelves and puts families in line for rationed food. A stored gill net and the skill to set it give you a food source that does not depend on a store being open.
Cast Net Limits
Cast nets are legal in many places, with limits. States set rules on net radius, mesh size, which waters you can throw in and which species you can keep. Many states allow cast nets only for bait species and require you to release game fish. Some ban them in certain fresh waters. Check your state wildlife agency's fishing rules before you throw. If the rules are unclear, call the agency and ask. They answer this question every day.
Waste and Bycatch
Take only what you will use as bait or food. Release game fish and protected species fast and gently. Keep extra baitfish alive in an aerated bucket instead of letting them die in a pile. Careful netting keeps the water full of fish for the next trip. Preppers who fish this way protect the very food source they plan to rely on.
What to Carry in a Net Kit
Cast net and bucket. A 5 gallon bucket carries the net, holds the catch and serves as a seat.
Spare hand line. A worn hand line is the most common failure, and a spare takes minutes to tie on.
Repair twine and a netting needle. Small tears grow fast, and a quick patch keeps the net fishing.
Paracord hank and mesh gauge. These give you the raw material and the measure for a gill net or dip net bag.
Gloves. Spines and fins cut hands, and gloves let you clear a net fast.
Three Steps to Start
First, look up your state's cast net rules this week. Second, buy a 4 to 6 foot bait net and practice on the lawn until it opens nine times in ten. Third, take it to legal water, catch your own bait, and fit the net into a wider survival fishing plan with hooks, lines and traps. Each step builds the preparedness skills that turn a bucket of minnows into dinner. Once you know how to throw a cast net, every other net makes more sense.
