The cast net I have is probably not the best in the world. I think I saw it on the shelf and picked it up at one of the big outdoor sporting goods places.
I would guess the mesh at about a half inch but will try to measure it today. I know the finer the mesh the slower the sink rate for a given amount of lead weight.
Mine is about 6' in diameter when spread out so I think it is called a 3'. It is about the smallest you can buy. I screwed mine up early on when I tried using it in my main pond and got into some structure. Cast nets do not do well with hard objects that can snag them. Mine has about a 6" poorly executed patch now.
There really is no "folding" to it. You just pick it up by the ring that pulls the draw strings and the weights and net just drop naturally below your hand. That part is very easy about a cast net. I find it easiest to store it in a 5 gallon bucket as I can just drop it right in weights first, then the net, then the retrieval rope on top of that. A bucket with a top would be good as mice love to chew on plastic stuff.
I find the harder I "try" the worse I throw. It is very easy to throw a good pattern right next to shore. Just a slow gentle rotation at the waist and an easy toss and it spreads out great.
It gets trickier the longer the throw as the retrieval rope can catch the net as it rotates turning your perfectly executed throw into a taco throw. Handling the retrieval rope in such a way that it stays away from the net rotation then becomes the trick.
I watched a good video on YouTube that helped me learn to throw. A video is worth a thousand words (or something like that).
I think I have gotten lucky and just decided to try the cast net at the right time of the year. I have used it in past years with marginal success, but this year it is working outstanding. I think the difference is the water temperature. It is probably in the 50-55 degree range in this small pond and the RES are pretty sluggish. I'm guessing the small RES are basking in the shallow warm water and are just sluggish enough the net gets them easily whereas if the water were warmer and they were more active I might not have as good of luck.
I had kind of completely forgotten about having the cast net or using it. I had been catching and removing GSF with the occasional RES caught in minnow traps and modified minnow traps. I just thought I had lots of GSF and hardly any RES fingerlings. Turns out I have lots of RES fingerlings but they just do not have the propensity to go into a baited trap. The GSF on the other hand are chow hounds and go into the traps readily. But of all the cast I have made and all the RES I have got with the cast net I have got a total of only 2 GSF. One fingerling and one about 6" (that I had undoubtedly missed with my intense fishing for them). So either I have a lot fewer GSF than I thought I had in that pond OR........ they are just a lot faster and better in escaping the net. Which is possible. But I really now think my GSF mostly hug the banks (the small ones at least) and I get them in the traps and I really have lots of RES but they just do not trap easily.
I'm feeling a lot better about my GSF levels in that that forage pond now. I was thinking I was going to have to drain and nuke it next year, but after recent successes I think it will be fine to go ahead as it is. I have removed a dozen 6" GSF and hundreds of fingerling GSF and it is getting hard to catch many in the traps now. So I think I have them thinned down to manageable levels again for another year. Now I am removing as many fingerling RES as I can to give enough resources to the remaining ones so they can get some growth.
