Throwing the cast net around

fishshooter

fishshooter

Joined
Mar 29, 2006
Messages
1,466
Drove down to the beach yesterday with two of my favorite Spydercos and my cast net. A Spyderhawk I keep in my waistband whenever I'm throwing a net or on the boat, and a Catcherman that lives in the tackle box. I'll carry it when we have to hike a little bit to get to a spot. Great fillet and bait knife, and works good prepping shore lunches and picnics. I got the Spyderhawk a few years ago after a buddy of mine threw his net on a bull shark, got snatched off the boat and couldn't get the hand line off. Last November I accidentally threw over a full grown porpoise. Me and another guy managed to beach it and cut it loose from the net with the Spyderhawk. We returned it to the water unharmed.




Supper!



Lots of blue crabs, but just about all were female, and most of those had eggs. So we snapped one claw of the bigger ones and tossed em back.


Had the place to ourselves most the day.


Till it got crowded.




Some cool little critters we threw back.





Couple of good meals this week. I really like these Salt series of knives, think I have half a dozen of them all together. I've gifted several of them to friends that fish and kayak and all of them are amazed they are 100% corrosion proof and the build quality.




At home in the swamp, too.
 
That's cool, looks like a lot of fun! You never know what you're gonna get
 
You down in St Augustine? Saw the vehicle on the beach. I miss tossing the cast net for dinner and for bait. We used to get jumbo shrimp when they were running in the creeks too! Good stuff for sure! Accidently got a rattlesnake one PM, while wading! Now that makes for an exciting time! Put him in the ice chest and he mellowed right out after about a half hour and we got him out of the net w/out any damage to the net or the snake! Put the snake back on shore and went back to fishing. He was gone when we left!
 
PaMtnBkr said:
You down in St Augustine? Saw the vehicle on the beach. I miss tossing the cast net for dinner and for bait. We used to get jumbo shrimp when they were running in the creeks too! Good stuff for sure! Accidently got a rattlesnake one PM, while wading! Now that makes for an exciting time! Put him in the ice chest and he mellowed right out after about a half hour and we got him out of the net w/out any damage to the net or the snake! Put the snake back on shore and went back to fishing. He was gone when we left!
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I'm on the Gulf Coast. Gulf County to be exact. There is a long stretch of beach in the county that you can drive on with a permit. We just cruise the beach till we see the mullet flopping or find a little point with a sandbar. The flounder like to hang by those points.
 
Cleaned and grilled pic.
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Great pics! Thanks for sharing. You can get a pretty good workout with a cast net as I'm sure you know. I once had a bull red in my cast net. That's a far cry from a porpoise, but it was sure exciting for both of us. We mostly get mullet, croakers and shrimp where we cast on the Texas side of the Gulf. Fun stuff.
 
Wow. That looks like a blast. Totally different than what I am used to up here in Canada. And that looks like a fantastic meal. Nicely done! (also, I may have to get a salt series spyderco now)
 
Brisket said:
Great pics! Thanks for sharing. You can get a pretty good workout with a cast net as I'm sure you know. I once had a bull red in my cast net. That's a far cry from a porpoise, but it was sure exciting for both of us. We mostly get mullet, croakers and shrimp where we cast on the Texas side of the Gulf. Fun stuff.
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Thanks man. A couple weeks ago was the first time I'd thrown it since before Christmas. The next day, I think every single muscle in my body was sore. We get mullet 90% of the time. This time of year the flounder are up close, so been picking up one or two every time I've been in the last two weeks. The crabs were a byproduct. I was not targeting them, but since I was catching them anyways... The netting on this one is too big for shrimp, even peter mullet can get out of it. I got it custom made after my previous mullet net was destroyed in the porpoise incident. Never had one with a chain before, the guy talked me into it, but I like it. I've got a smaller braille net that works good for shrimp. Get in to the shrimp good once or twice and the net pays for itself.
 
mizjif said:
Wow. That looks like a blast. Totally different than what I am used to up here in Canada. And that looks like a fantastic meal. Nicely done! (also, I may have to get a salt series spyderco now)
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It was good. Trying to teach the girlfriend how to grill, so this was just a little olive oil and Old Bay, grilled on charcoal and hickory, then basted with garlic lemon butter right before coming off the grill. She did good and it was tasty. Those Salt knives are awesome. The serrated edge keeps a good cutting edge longer than the plain edge. The little Ladybugs are great little beach knives. They are screwed together now instead of pinned so you can clean sand and fish goo out of them, and adjust blade play.



They make a hawkbill ladybug that is too cool, its a tiny cutting beast.
 
My mouth is watering. That sounds amazing.

Thanks for the heads up! I'll definitely be checking out one of those ladybugs in a hawkbill.

Also, I love the pic with the crab hahah. Great pic.
 
fishshooter said:
Thanks man. A couple weeks ago was the first time I'd thrown it since before Christmas. The next day, I think every single muscle in my body was sore. We get mullet 90% of the time. This time of year the flounder are up close, so been picking up one or two every time I've been in the last two weeks. The crabs were a byproduct. I was not targeting them, but since I was catching them anyways... The netting on this one is too big for shrimp, even peter mullet can get out of it. I got it custom made after my previous mullet net was destroyed in the porpoise incident. Never had one with a chain before, the guy talked me into it, but I like it. I've got a smaller braille net that works good for shrimp. Get in to the shrimp good once or twice and the net pays for itself.
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I've never used a net with a chain, but it makes sense and I like the looks of it. I really like the Ladybug Hawkbill H1 as well. I pack it along with an Aqua Salt, Tasman and Caspian when I head to the coast. Catching some shrimp in the net is like finding a twenty dollar bill on the ground without the feeling bad for the person that lost it part. I can't schedule a fishing trip for awhile due to projects, but I am at least going to thaw something from the freezer because of thread.
 
Brisket said:
Catching some shrimp in the net is like finding a twenty dollar bill on the ground without the feeling bad for the person that lost it part.
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Ha! I like that. I've got a Caspian I keep strapped to a PFD. It's the blunt tipped one, and makes a decent oyster knife in a pinch.
 
Dang, that looks like one heck of a meal! Makes me want to track down my cast net somewhere in the garage
 
Hey shooter, good stuff. I'm guessing by your name you spearfish too? We've got some pretty good spots down here in Costa Rica. Anyway, I wanted to ask you about that catcherman. I am looking for something to carry daily in the kayak, and that knife looks just about perfect! I guess mainly line cutting and prepping and butterflying bait...and cutting anything that needs to be cut in an emergency. I like the idea of the h1 AND the idea of something I can fillet with in a pinch! Problem is, I can't find any for sale! I guess they were a limited run or something?! Seems like nobody sells new ones anymore. :-(.
 
They were a limited run for USN based on the original Catcherman. It's a shame, because it's a perfect kayak knife. I wish Spyderco would make it a regular Salt series offering. The Spyderhawk has also been discontinued. Been thinking about picking up a Pacific. Wouldn't fillet as well, but should be a good all arounder.
 
Do you have any tips on how to use one of those nets? I bought a 6 ft one and can't seem to get the hang of it.--KV
 
I've got this 10ft bag net and an 8ft Braille net, which is probably what your 6 footer is. I use two different techniques, depending on the net. I'll try do a quick video on the braille net.
 
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