This is not your typical story about " I bought a ..net..on the first cast...filled..", instead this is a story about cast nets that work for a living. As a fishing guide on the Texas Gulf coast I use a lot of live bait in a year. By catching the bait with a cast net a lot of money is saved not to mention that the bait is lively and is what the fish are feeding on at the time. A good net such as the Fitec Pro Series and Fitec Pro Select makes easy work out of catching bait. The net opens full and sinks fast meaning more area is covered and less bait is missed. This is important when you have clients sitting in the boat eager to start fishing and don't want to waste their day chasing bait. I use the Fitec Pro Series and the Fitec Pro Select in the seven foot radius in the ¼ and 3/8 inch mesh depending on what bait I'm after . I have learned that these nets spread open superior to the discount store nets and will catch more bait per cast. In conclusion the Fitec nets are quick to pay for themselves in both time and money.
In June 2007, my team was fishing in a catfish tournament at a local lake. I had been using my Fitec net to catch a few live shad as we needed them. For this reason, I still had my net out and handy. About an hour before the tournament ended, I hooked into a nice catfish. After a good little battle, the hook just came out of his mouth about ten feet from the shore. My partner yelled at me that the fish was still there, just hanging out. I grabbed my Fitec Super Spreader and made one cast, right on target. Well I'll just say that a 9 pound 8 ounce Channel catfish can tear a few holes in a net. But after landing him and finding out he weighed in as the Big Fish and put my team in first place for over $400.00 in prize money, I didn't mind the holes.
Being in college the bank account usually reads LOW BALANCE, so catchin dinner is a plus. A couple of my roomates and I fish the San Pablo River here in Jacksonville, FL with some regularity. Our big thing here is redfish, and he who has the freshest bait catches the biggest fish. Now, my father uses a FITEC castnet in the Tampa Bay area and swears by it, so for X-mas my dad bought me a FITEC Super Spreader like his. Well, I got back to J-ville and busted it out on the finger mullet under the bridge, all my friends laughed, they all claimed that I wasted my money and that they could catch just as much bait with their cheaper, low-grade cast nets. I told them that I would bet that not only would my net catch more but that anybody could throw it in 3 tries. The bet was simple, I would ask the next person that walked over the bridge to be our guinea pig, if I won They each would have to do my laundry for a week, if I lost the bet I would have to clean the fish for the next 3 trips...no fun!! Over the bridge comes a boy on a bike about 8 yrs old and about half as tall as my net was long. I showed him the basic technique and then stood back to let my fate unfold. Toss number one hit the bridge pileon and never hit the water, good form just bad toss. The second toss was a full spread, I honestly couldn't believe it hit the open water and pulled up about 6 Finger mullet, when my friend were barely pullin 3-4!! Luck.. I don't know, I think it has something to do with the net. True story, I bought the kid a drink at the dock and and now my fishin buddies are laundry-boys.
My friend and I had always bought bait and never thought of catching our own bait until one day we were fishing one of the inlets in Virginia Beach. We saw several people throwing cast nets and pulling in dozens of baitfish. We talk to one of them about how to throw, and where to find one. They said, “if you going to get one get a Fitec you won’t regret it” So later that day I called around, found a Fitec dealer, immediately drove out, and bought one. When I got home, I went into the back yard and practiced for about twenty minutes. I felt comfortable that I’d be able to catch my own bait. The next day I took my thirteen-year-old daughter fishing to the same inlet. After making a few throws, she wanted to try it. So I gave her a few instructions and with-in three throws she threw it perfectly. My heart beamed with pride as I saw the net open to full circle and hit the water. We were both cheering at the sight. When she started to pull in the net, she looked at me and said “Dad it feels real heavy”. So I helped her pull it in and not only did she net about a half dozen baitfish but she had netted two good size Puppy Drums. I looked at her and said “well doesn’t that figure every time I teach you something about fishing you have to go and show me up”. Then we laugh till our sides ached. What a great day.
One time I went to my grandmas house to go catch some bait in her canal and I spotted some oscars. So I cast the net there. When I pulled the net up I had about a doven 3 to 6 inch oscars and one 2 foot sucker fish which now lives in my pond.
My wife recently bought me a 4ft fitec super spreader for fathers day. Since getting the cast net my son and I have better fishing trips. We always come home with fish ranging from 14 ounces to 2 1/2 lbs. I have caught several large mullet and 2 1/2 lb black drum. We also come home with enough shrimp to go fishing with the next time! We catch more fish with the net than we do with our poles.
This is a great story and an experience I will never forget! My 3 sons and I spent a week on Jekyll Island, GA. We had never been to Jekyll, but the promise of spending a week camping out and fishing all day, everyday, seemed a great way to spend a week, especially for us guys! So that first morning, we couldn't wait to get at 'em! But we were shocked to learn that the only bait shrimp we could buy on the island were frozen... and expensive. An island local told us we could go to St. Simon's Island to buy live shrimp, "Or," he said, "you could just catch your own. That's what we do." He suggested we go into Brunswick to find a "good" net. "You'll be glad you did." I wish I could remember the name of the tackle shop he gave us directions to, but the husband-wife team owners were the best! I told him I was there for a cast net. He walked me down an aisle and pointed out his stock. "Hmmm?" I don't know what I expected, but I had never bought a net. The owner correctly surmised that I was like a dear caught in the headlight. "I use a Fitec," he said. "You'll have it for a years, so buy quality. You'll be glad you did." Where had I heard that before? With his guidance, we bought a Fitec Pro 5 foot with 1/2" mesh. He said Georgia has legal limit of 1/2". It cost around $75, but we could easliy spend $50-$60 that week on live bait, AND we would still have the net. Best part of the story, when we get back to Jekyll Creek, the pogies are literally popping like popcorn. Turns out my kids cast like old salts in just a few tries (really, they learned in just a few casts!) and boat dozens of pogies with each cast. We had more fun with that net during that trip than with anything! And we caught shrimp, too, so we had scampi for dinner... instead of hotdogs. Thanks for the memories!
Well, this story happened not to long ago and I'm only 14 years old. I was using one of my grandpa's cast nets down at Sneads Ferry, North Carolina. It was my first time throwing a cast net and I was doing pretty well catching manahaden and pinfish. I was using 3 ft that spreaded out to 6 ft and I really didnt know how to use one. Suprisingly I caught three small mullet on my first cast at a huge school of mullet. So any way I threw at a huge school of small manahaden and let my net sink to the bottom which was only about five feet and caught three huge popeye mullet. Come to find out, my grandpa who was using a 6 ft cast net that spreaded out to 12 feet hadn't caught any popeye mullet that day. Oh well, I can say now that that was the best time I've ever had fishing with my grandpa. I've loved cast netting ever since too because my grandpa introduced me to the sport of bait fishing
This past September I purchased a new Fitec Super Spreader six foot cast net. Though I've tried other brands, I found that I get the best spread with the Fitec Super Spreader which allows for optimum catches of bait fish and shrimp so that's all I use!
To start with, let me just say that until yesterday, I had never thrown a cast net in my life. And, because I live in Northern California, where cast nets are something of a rarity, it was just last year that I actually saw someone using a cast net. Within an hour he managed to load his five-gallon bucket with what I estimated to be about $20 worth of live baitfish. I was duly impressed. He offered me the chance to try his net (a 6' radius SS 1000 Series), but I politely declined as I imagined myself completely fouling myself in his net and stumbling into the water.
The fall brings a lot of things for a lot of people. For some it brings the start of college football. For some it brings cooler weather and the start of hunting season. For me it brings the new season for bait casting for South Carolina shrimp.
I have had my 'FITEC' Super Spreader Pro Series 5' 3/8 in. mesh cast net for over a year now and have caught countless dozens of gizzard and threadfin shad. Certainly the net paid for itself about the fourth or fifth time out, if you base prices on purchased live bait at the the bait shops. BUT...That's not the story! My family and I have just completed a trip to Gulf Shores, Alabama (1st time to Gulf Shores) and of course I took my 'Super Spreader' along with me. Locally caught baits are what the 'local' fish feed on... right? Well, My brother-in-law and I took out one morning to fish the jetties and stopped on the 'bay side' to catch bait.
Hoping to catch finger mullet for trout or grey snapper, I was more than pleasantly surprised to find on my first cast: 4 finger mullet, 5 shrimp, 2 croaker, 1 small crab, and a baby flounder(which I immediately released), came back on the retrieve. My brother-in-law kept saying, "Wow! Wow! I can't believe all that bait in one cast." I told him don't always expect to be that lucky on every cast. He was so excited about catching bait that he asked to throw the net.(No previous experience) With a couple minutes of coaching he was about to throw a pretty well-rounded cast. He thinks it was his 'quick learning'- I told him it was the coaching... But anyone who has used a 'Super Spreader' knows it's gotta be the net! Thanks for an OUTSTANDING PRODUCT!
Oh...Did we catch fish? You know we did! 3 grunts, 5 hardheads, one
"Break-Off"-Probably a mackerel and 1 pompano-One good eating fish and the rest
were fun...almost as much fun as wondering what the next cast of the net would
retrieve! Now you have another devoted fan other than myself!
Sincerely, Ross Harlow
Last spring I was trying to gather herring in one of the tidal creeks here on Maryland's Eastern Shore to use as bait for Rockfish (Striped Bass). I was throwing a cheap Tyzac by Betts 4-footer below a small dam. There were a lot of snags and other debris in the water and after numerous hang-ups - and failed attempts to untangle the net - it still would not open correctly. On further inspection I noticed that numerous lines, lead, and brail had broken. After some stream-side mending I figured it would be okay but no such luck! I went home without much bait and called a friend to explain my dilemma.
He was moping around the house and grousing about paying good money for bait - $2.50 for a dozen worms, $5.00 for a dozen minnows, $3.50 for a dozen sickly crawdads. "Man, I wish I could just go out to Sutters Bypass and catch some fresh, wigglin' bait. If only I had a another castnet like the one I got from Fitec - but it was stolen."
Shrimp baiting is one of the most challenging sports on the Gulf coast. They call it recreational shrimping, but I don't know why. It's hard work!