I called Sterling Nets. They gave me a price of $618.88. I asked to talk to someone there to confirm what I should order. I explained the situation of trying to remove bullheads from a small lake. That person told me that the fyke nets were designed to be used by fisheries biologists for sampling by putting the wings across the water way and forcing fish through. They didn't hold many fish and fish wouldn't enter unless forced (even with bait). He indicated I should consider a seine. I helped seine some long ago. I don't recall it being particular effective on catfish, don't think one would work well on my lake, and am not sure I could get enough volunteers to go in the water each year before spawn.

I then called Nylon Net. After explaining the situation to a lady there, she indicated that I might want to consider a catfish trap. She indicated that with bait, it should work pretty well. The price of those was around $41.

I called the IL Dept of Natural Resources. They said that since the water body was entirely contained upon my property and was less than 30 acres, I was pretty much free to use anything I wanted short of explosives.

All the people seemed very nice and knowledgeable and helpful. The first one basically talked himself out of a $600 dollar sale so I have to believe he was advising me to the best of his knowledge; but it kind of goes against what I thought accurate.

[Linked Image from i108.photobucket.com]