Old Salt Casting Net

[waterdog101]

I have a small casting net I've had for years, and thought I would get a larger one. was looking at them on ebay, and had decided on a 9' Betts Old Salt brand. and getting ready to check out and an add at the bottom of page showed Sears with the same net for 15 bucks cheaper. so I bought it from Sears. bought it Sunday night, and they haven't shipped it yet, seams really slow getting their product shipped, never bought from Sears online before, and never owned a Old Salt net before. any of you guys ever throw an Old Salt net before. if so whats your two cents on them.

[peter]

I have a small casting net I've had for years, and thought I would get a larger one. was looking at them on ebay, and had decided on a 9' Betts Old Salt brand. and getting ready to check out and an add at the bottom of page showed Sears with the same net for 15 bucks cheaper. so I bought it from Sears. bought it Sunday night, and they haven't shipped it yet, seams really slow getting their product shipped, never bought from Sears online before, and never owned a Old Salt net before. any of you guys ever throw an Old Salt net before. if so whats your two cents on them.

I used an eight foot old salt for a lot of years until I threw it into the lake without being attached to me while demonstrating it to two other people. That turned into a very quick demonstration of what not to do. A good lesson none the less HaHa. I ran out and bought a bass pro net because it was the only thing available at the lake. Absolute junk that bass pro was. Big plastic weights.

Just bought an 8' radius old salt last fall. Great net for the price. They are made with hoops but they do spread pretty nice. I like the overall weight ( one pound per foot of radius) and the shape of the weights. They are easy on the rotator cuff. An eight food diameter in any other net (that I could find) is too heavy (1.3-1.5 pounds per foot) to throw from my boat while trying to throw it up over trolling moors and other stuff on the bow while being mindful of the rotator. I recommend it.

[waterdog101]

thanks Peter, for the reply. sorry to hear about the rope not being attached to you. I read some good reviews online about the old salt nets, just wanted to hear some firsthand info from someone like yourself that has used an old salt net. haven't got mine yet, hope to get to try it out early Friday morning. and thanks again for the input.

[peter]

thanks Peter, for the reply. sorry to hear about the rope not being attached to you. I read some good reviews online about the old salt nets, just wanted to hear some firsthand info from someone like yourself that has used an old salt net. haven't got mine yet, hope to get to try it out early Friday morning. and thanks again for the input.

Do a search on this forum for cast nets or castnets and you should get a good deal of additional info.
Peter

[peter]

I used an eight foot old salt for a lot of years until I threw it into the lake without being attached to me while demonstrating it to two other people. That turned into a very quick demonstration of what not to do. A good lesson none the less HaHa. I ran out and bought a bass pro net because it was the only thing available at the lake. Absolute junk that bass pro was. Big plastic weights.

Just bought an 8' radius old salt last fall. Great net for the price. They are made with hoops but they do spread pretty nice. I like the overall weight ( one pound per foot of radius) and the shape of the weights. They are easy on the rotator cuff. An eight food diameter in any other net (that I could find) is too heavy (1.3-1.5 pounds per foot) to throw from my boat while trying to throw it up over trolling moors and other stuff on the bow while being mindful of the rotator. I recommend it.

sorry. That was supposed to be 8' radius. Thanks to Paul M for pointing that out.

[waterdog101]

sorry. That was supposed to be 8' radius. Thanks to Paul M for pointing that out.

I new what you meant, the one I bought was a 9' radius, I tried it yesterday and found that I need some practice, to throw it like I can the smaller net.

[SLP]

Is getting a small radius of 3.5 or 4 feet even worth it? I have some serious back and neck troubles and I doubt I could handle throwing anything much larger or heavier. I'm not even sure I could even throw a smaller one for that matter, but I have been thinking about getting one and giving it a try. It seems like it would be fun (if it didn't hurt too bad) and would be a lot nicer than paying for bait. Do you even get much bait if you throw a small one?

What is the smallest size available that people throw, is there smaller than 3.5? The smaller the better would give me the best chance of being able to use.

[waterdog101]

Is getting a small radius of 3.5 or 4 feet even worth it? I have some serious back and neck troubles and I doubt I could handle throwing anything much larger or heavier. I'm not even sure I could even throw a smaller one for that matter, but I have been thinking about getting one and giving it a try. It seems like it would be fun (if it didn't hurt too bad) and would be a lot nicer than paying for bait. Do you even get much bait if you throw a small one?

What is the smallest size available that people throw, is there smaller than 3.5? The smaller the better would give me the best chance of being able to use.

I have a small net I've had for a long time,not sure about it's size, without getting it out of the boat and measuring it. but I think it's a 3 and a half or 4 ft Radius, it opens to about 7 or 8 ft. I can throw it good, and it opens to a full circle. the small net works good in shallow water, I've caught enough shad in one throw to fish most of the day with. it don't sink as fast as a larger net, so it's hard to catch bait if they are deep around 30 to 40 ft. but it does good down to around 15 ft. I bought a larger one that sinks faster and will should be better in deeper water, if I can ever master throwing it. I don't need two nets, and I don't know what the shipping would cost, I suppose less than 20.00 if you will pm me your mailing address, I will give you my small net and ship it to you, when you get it, you can send me the cost for shipping, to my return address. it's a good little net, I don't need it, you want to try one, if you can use it, great. if not then you wouldn't have much invested.

[JUSTINHALL]

SLP
Keep in mind there are many different ways to throw a cast, some a lot more straining on you than others. If you have back and neck problems #1 go see my brother he is a chiropractor........ #2 Get on youtube and watch some different videos on how to throw it and watch for ones that don't require you to spin and throw as much. Some guys find one way easier than the next so they stick to that.
Shorter guys with shorter arms have to really get the spin on to get a big cast net out and open so try to compare size to you when looking as well.
But you can most likely master any of them so look for what makes it easier for you and keep throwing it that way. During the winter months its really easy to catch bait so a big net is less important.

[SLP]

I have a small net I've had for a long time,not sure about it's size, without getting it out of the boat and measuring it. but I think it's a 3 and a half or 4 ft Radius, it opens to about 7 or 8 ft. I can throw it good, and it opens to a full circle. the small net works good in shallow water, I've caught enough shad in one throw to fish most of the day with. it don't sink as fast as a larger net, so it's hard to catch bait if they are deep around 30 to 40 ft. but it does good down to around 15 ft. I bought a larger one that sinks faster and will should be better in deeper water, if I can ever master throwing it. I don't need two nets, and I don't know what the shipping would cost, I suppose less than 20.00 if you will pm me your mailing address, I will give you my small net and ship it to you, when you get it, you can send me the cost for shipping, to my return address. it's a good little net, I don't need it, you want to try one, if you can use it, great. if not then you wouldn't have much invested.

What a thoughtful act of kindness, thank you. I sent you a PM.

[SLP]

SLP
Keep in mind there are many different ways to throw a cast, some a lot more straining on you than others. If you have back and neck problems #1 go see my brother he is a chiropractor........ #2 Get on youtube and watch some different videos on how to throw it and watch for ones that don't require you to spin and throw as much. Some guys find one way easier than the next so they stick to that.
Shorter guys with shorter arms have to really get the spin on to get a big cast net out and open so try to compare size to you when looking as well.
But you can most likely master any of them so look for what makes it easier for you and keep throwing it that way. During the winter months its really easy to catch bait so a big net is less important.

Thanks for the good advice. I will check out some videos and try and find the best technique which won't put too much strain on me. My goal usually is just to not do further damage, the pain I have come to accept.
I told my wife, if I didn't do something because it hurt I would never do anything so I try my best to remain at least occasionally active when I am able to.

As far as the chiropractor, I have been to many plus some specialists and I am afraid there isn't too awful much that can be done to help. Thanks for the thought though.