I went to the beach this morning to try my hand at cast-netting some dinner. (Green Deane made it sound easier than I found it to be.)
A cast net is a round net with a collar in the center of it, a heavy line stitched to the perimeter, and lines running from the perimeter through the collar to another heavy line that gets fastened to your hand.
Pulling on the main line draws the perimeter into the middle, trapping whatever is under the net. It’s genius in it’s simplicity.
However, getting fish under it when it lands, and having it land with maximum exposure are just a couple of the things that can go wrong, but are the two I seemed to have the most trouble with today.
My plan was to see something like this:
Unfortunately, the best I was able to do was this:
I wasn’t very excited with my catch. I want to work on this more in the future, probably when the water gets too cold to go spearfishing 🙂 I did have fun, and got to see some baby turtles. I collected a bucket full of them to eat for dinner. I believe they were loggerheads.
Cute little guys, aren’t they?
OK, I actually saw some of the Environmental Studies Center folks (the ones that ride 4-wheelers up and down the beaches to monitor the turtle hatches) removing them to be released after dark that night. They were kind enough to let me take some pictures. No turtles were hurt in the making of this post!
So while I failed (mostly) in catching dinner, I woke up a couple days ago to roosters crowing, from the batch of chickens I purchased several months ago. Of the 11 we bought, 2 turned out to be males…a great ratio for us since we wanted only hens. Usually its a LOT more like 50/50 in the male to female ratio. Since I don’t like to upset my neighbors (“What the hell is that sound at 5am? It sounded like a rooster!”) and push my luck, I gave the two offenders a non-negotiable ticket to Camp Dutch Oven.
They tasted FAR better than they sounded!
I had a backup dinner plan for my possible castnetting venture. I almost always do. You never know when things might not go as planned. For me, its usually more often than not.
But that’s what makes life interesting 🙂
Peace,
db
Having fish under the thing when it lands is, in my opinion, the most important aspect. If you “throw a banana” you still might get a fish.
Definitely helps!
I thought for a minute while reading about your turtles… you were either wealthy (for the fines) or insane (for the turtle people who would be picketing in your front yard.) Nice to see you’re just the normal “crazy.”
When I was a teen we used to go out with cast nets and try to catch dinner to cook on the beach. At least once a month some nut would end up needing dental work because he decided holding the lead weight in his teeth was a good plan. We’d see people doing it, but there were a lot of gap-tooth smiles in the fishing town near us. 🙂
I’m a Hillbilly! You’d think I’d already be missing a front tooth!
🙂
HAHA, had me goin on the turtles there for a second…i was like …”ummmm aren’t those endangered.” LOL
If you find a dock on the intercoastal and chum the barnacles off of the poles into the water, wait a few minutes then cast your net…..Sheephead Supreme.
Glad I could get you, as well as several others….
And I knew about the barnacle chum…just didn’t put it together with a castnet….Just what I need, another enabler for wacky things to do…
THANKS! 🙂
Careful though…I don’t think you can cast-net game fish, not sure if sheephead falls in that category????
I’m good to go on sheepshead 🙂
http://myfwc.com/fishing/saltwater/recreational/sheepshead/
Legal Gear: hook and line, cast net, seine, spear or gig
Illegal Gear: Harvest prohibited by or with the use of any multiple hook in conjunction with live or dead natural bait; Snatching prohibited
Cast nets may be used as harvesting gear for the following species only: black drum, bluefish, cobia, flounder, mullet, Florida pompano, red drum, sheepshead, shrimp, Spanish mackerel, spotted seatrout, weakfish and unregulated species.
Source:
http://myfwc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1168/~/nets—what-types-of-recreational-fishing-nets-may-i-use%3F
Nice, I knew black drum was good. Didnt know all those others though. Was dynamite on the list?….hehe..:-D
Thats not fishing…that’s catching…and pretty much a no-no everywhere, unfortunately…
Reminds me of this:
http://fruitiply.com/m/videos/view/Jerry-Clower-Fishing-with-the-Game-Warden-2010-06-30