I wanted to get out this weekend and try out a new cast net but it looks like a lot of rain. Instead I experimented out back in the grass. Next best thing I guess.
Here is a comparison between two 6' diameter nets . One is a Betts Old Salt (about 60 bucks) and the other is a Calusa Cracker (about 119).
Here they are just bunched up laying on the ground. See how the Calusa on the right folds together more compactly and is less of a "birds nest". That is an indication of a good net.
Below is how they landed after a throw of about the same quality. The calusa is on the left. They are both six foot nets but the Calusa opens better mainly because it is made with pie shaped sections represented by the red lines so the geometry makes it completely flat. The Betts on the right is made with hoops of netting represented by the blue circles. This geometry makes the Betts more like several tubes sewn together. A smaller tube at the top and larger tubes toward the bottom. A tube like net can never open as large as a flat net because it wants to stay in that tube shape to a degree. See all the material bunched up in the middle of the Betts.
The next photo shows the Betts on top of the Calusa. For this photo the nets were spread out by hand to the largest they can possibly ever be. In reality I don't think that the Betts can get anywhere this close to the diameter shown when thrown below because of how it is made.
The Betts Old Salt is a good net (I would buy one again for throwing in shallow water with snags). I was actually planning on of getting a an eight foot Betts also because I thought I might need an eight footer in tough situations.
The Betts has only one pound of lead per foot of radius (easier to throw) as compared to the Calusa that has one and a half pounds of lead per foot. My rotator cuff starts to screem with an eight foot net with pound and a half of lead and I find such a net hard to throw from a boat like mine because of the weight. Thrown from a dock or with no obstructions it is not hard to open though. The extra weight of the Calusa should make it sink a lot faster and that should help catch more bait.
After checking all this out I don't think I will even need the eight foot net because the Calusa opens about 50 percent (square feet) larger when I throw it than the Betts that I have been using for a few years. I usually throw under a light and I just can't imagine I will need anything bigger than the Calusa 6'.
For netting on a full moon or blindly for Gizzards a bigger net might be necessary.
I also ordered and returned a 6' Bait Buster net which was $100. The net was made with the pie shaped sections but it did not lay flat on the ground no matter how much I stretched it. The quality just did not seem to be there. The netting was thicker too which would make it more durable but also harder to open and sink slower. You want a net to be soft right out of the box.
I also have an 8' Bass Pro net which I bought at the lake after throwing my 8' Betts in the lake about eight years ago. I will reserve that one for the shallow water in urban areas where the possibility of rebar lurks.
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