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Cast Net Product Comparison of 7 and 10 Foot Nets With 1", 3/8" and 1/4" Holes
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May 22, 2024
This video is a product comparison between three different kinds of cast nets to catch live bait for fishing. Chris has lots of experience catching bait in both saltwater and freshwater, and compares 2 different brands and 3 different net sizes, styles and weights. In this video: 0:00 - Cast Nets 0:20 - 10 foot Betts net with 1" holes 5:35 - 10 foot Bait Busters net with 3/8" holes 8:25 - 7 foot Bait Busters net with 1/4" holes
View Video Transcript
0:00
Hey guys, this is Chris with LakeHub. I'm going to show you
0:03
my collection of cast nets, all their features, the benefits, the pluses, the minuses
0:10
of each of these, and why I love them, and which one I take to the lake with me or take to the ocean with me
0:16
every time I go. So let's begin. The first one I'm going to start with is
0:23
this white one over here on the end. You notice that there's two different brands that I use
0:30
This is Betts brand. A lot of bait shops and stuff carry these
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This net right here is 10 feet long. So it's 10 feet in total length. When it opens up, it has a 20 foot diameter
0:42
This has a 15 foot rope on it. It's a nylon rope
0:48
Every rope has a cast net. They all should have it as a loop. Now, we don't
0:55
put our hand in the loop. It's made to make a cinch
1:00
out of it so that when you put it on, you can kind of cinch it onto your arm. Because if you throw the net and you just have the loop, it's just going to slip off
1:09
You know, if you throw it in deep water, that line is going to go all the way to the bottom
1:15
You're not going to get that net back. So with this net, I use this net. It's got one inch holes in it
1:23
It's nylon, of course. It's got one inch, what it means by one inch, meaning, see these holes right here
1:30
Every one of these holes is one inch big. And there's also a stretch value. It always says one inch to
1:37
one and a quarter inches. So what that means is if a fish was to jam itself in there, it could open that hole to one and a quarter inches
1:45
So I use this net when I want to catch big bait, like I want to catch mullet
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I want to catch large shad. I want to catch pinfish, you know, I don't want anything little because I'm going to go out like offshore fishing
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And I just want big baits. So I don't want to waste my time with all the little baits and all that run through and get gilled
2:05
All the little ones will run through here and I'll just keep the big ones that I want
2:10
And that's it, right? So things I like about this net is it's got really thick nylon
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It's got huge thick nylon. Here, I'll show you the details. See, the nylon is way thicker than the ones I'm about to show you
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And then also here, the one inch net, you can see how big the holes are
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Also a feature of this is that it has, that I don't like, is that it has a small horn on it
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The horn is really small. Let me show you that in detail. So see how this horn is really small
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You notice that it also has like, see the string is exposed and all this is tied on here
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So this is just going to wear and tear and dry out and rip. And eventually you're going to have to replace that
3:03
But it's hard to get it back to normal. I like it where it's all self-contained and you can't see it and it's not exposed
3:10
I can't cut it. But these beds net, they have this. It's still strong. It's lightweight
3:15
You know, it's easy to hang on to. Also, they have the giant swivel
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These giant swivels are great. One thing that this has that I don't like is that it has an extra connection point
3:29
So see this, they did a crimp here to crimp these lead lines down
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So that just gives you another bail point for later on when this like, especially throwing this in saltwater, this might rust, might corrode
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And that's just gonna be another place for it to break, another connection
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And then it connects to the swivel and all those swivels connect to the rope
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Okay, you'll see on the other nets how they do it. And it's just two connections
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You don't have this third kind of extra connection. Also, one thing about this net is that it's one and a half pounds per foot
4:05
And why I want that is I want a net that when I throw it, it sinks very quickly
4:11
Okay, so when you pick this net up, it's heavy. Okay, it's 20 feet around, one and a half pounds per foot
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You can do the math, equals heavy. And you're throwing this thing five or six times to try to catch bait
4:23
You're gonna get tired. Okay, another thing that I don't like about this net, but it's kind of okay in saltwater
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if you get a big enough school of fish, is these flat weights. Here, let me show you the detail
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See these flat weights right here? These flat weights don't sink nearly as fast as the round weights
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And I'll show you on the other one how the round weights work. But see, they're all flat
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They're all connected, slid on there. But pluses, it's heavy. It's got really thick mono
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If you land on some rocks or something, you're gonna get off of it. It's got a small horn, which is some advantages, but I don't like the small horn
5:00
I like the bigger horn, something I can grab onto. I don't like the exposed string
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Also, this rope is a little thinner than most of the ropes that I'm used to throwing
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So this is the first net. It's a cast net by Betts
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It's a one-inch mesh, 10-foot net, okay? Comes in this beautiful bucket that I can use to dump the fish in if I catch them
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if I don't, I'm not near my live well when I'm casting them. All right, let's go to my second most used cast net
5:35
That's this one here. This is by Bait Busters, okay? This also is a one-and-a-half pound per foot net, so it sinks a lot faster
5:48
But this one has a three-eighths inch holes, okay? So three-eighths inch holes, let me show you that here
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So they're a little bit smaller. See, I can't even stick my finger through those, right
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So three-eighths inch holes. So the little, little baits, the little baits, they go through
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but the medium-sized ones, you know, two, three inches that I want to keep, that I want to catch usually in fresh water, that's what these are for
6:15
Also, the horn on this is enclosed. See that? Let me show you over here
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The horn on this is enclosed. You don't see the string. It's not exposed
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You can't cut it. It's all being held within. It's still got the string holding it, but it's inside this
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and I can't cut it. I can't, it's not going to get worn easily
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It's right inside there. Also, it has a beautiful connection right here
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See, it still has the big heavy-duty swivel, but it's connected once with this hard plastic connector
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and it's connected right to the rope. There's not an extra connector over here that we have to worry about
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It's just this and that, and that's it. Less likely to fail
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The rope's actually a little thicker. I don't know if you can see that. The rope's a little thicker than the first one I showed you
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and my most favorite thing in all of this cast net is the round weights
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Now, this joker is really heavy, so it's the round weights because they have to put so many of these round weights
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Let me show you here real quick what this round weights look like. So, see, there's the round weights versus the flat weights
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I like these better. They seem to sink faster. It's a little easier to throw, so that's my favorite feature
7:39
This net here, again, it's the Bait Buster, and they write these 3-8-inch, right
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Stretches to 3-quarters of an inch. It's a 10-foot net, okay? So, 3-8-inch, 3-quarter, 10-foot net, 20-foot diameter
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and then this one just happens to be green. So, some people are super green or white
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You know, white might reflect more when you're throwing the bait. The bait see it, they might dive, but I just like the green color too
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All right, so that's the one I use most of the time when I'm just catching bait
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Now, this one, my next net, is what I use when I'm in Texas
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because when I'm in Texas, they have a size, there's a size limitation
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They only allow you to throw a 7-foot net, which is a 14-foot diameter, and that's it
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Anything below that is fine, anything above that, you can't use, it's illegal
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So, this is the one I use in Texas. It's 7 feet, like the other nets, it's the same brand, okay
8:41
It's the same Bait Buster brand, so it's the green color. It has the same horn, same connection, you know
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Nice sturdy connection, nice thick rope, okay? But this one also has the round weights, right
8:57
So, it has the round weights, okay? But this one is only a quarter-inch square stretch
9:08
Look at that, it's so little. Okay, you can't, I mean, when you cast on a fish, you're gonna get it
9:17
I don't care if that thing's a minnow, if it's a, you know, the negative of this net, though, is when you cast on a school of fish
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you're bringing them all in. It's like, none of them are running out
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If you've got 200 fish, you're gonna have 200 fish to either pick up and throw away
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if they're too small, or put them in the live well. So, if you don't want anything to get away, this is the net to throw
9:39
But if you're just looking for a specific size bait, like, say, you want to go for some big fish that day, big bass, big striper
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this 3-8-inch net is perfect. One of the negatives of the 3-8-inch is that a lot of the bait that we cast
9:54
gill themselves, so when the fish hit the net, their heads go through
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but their body's a little fat, so they can't back out, and it just gills them. And you have to sit there and push every one of those fish through
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You're talking about pushing, like, hundreds of fish through the net, and they're all stuck in there
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And you can be there for 20 minutes just pushing bait through. You don't want to leave them in your net, then, you know
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you find them the next day, and it just stinks, and it sucks. So make sure they're all cleaned out
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So that's the negative about this. The one-inch, the negative part is you don't catch, I mean
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you only catch the big fish. Like, one-inch is, some of those fish can squeeze right through there
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a lot of them, mostly. So that is for big baits. You have to go find the big baits, and that's what you use that for
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When I come home, everybody says, well, what are you doing? You're in fresh water? Yeah, I cast in fresh water
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But if you caught some fish, you know, they get scales, they get slime all up in your bait
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Sometimes you'll catch a, you know, sometimes accidentally catch, like, a striper, or you'll catch a catfish
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or you'll catch something you don't want in the net. So it slimes up the net. So when I come home, I take my nets, okay, and I just spread them out
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Okay, you can either spread them out this way, and spray it all down
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and just sit it out in the sun and let it dry, or I open it up
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you know, just start walking, and just open it up. Okay, so just get it all nice and open
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Spray it off with a hose. It just needs water from a water hose. Let it dry in the sun
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Let the bucket dry out. When it's done, pull it up. Slide your hand down real tight
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Get that nice bundle. Fit it in there. Loop it. So if you loop it, it won't get knotted, and your net's going to last longer
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The less pressure you put on the nylon, the less stretching you do
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the longer your nets are going to last. So I like to, like, just kind of loop it in there
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I loop the rope in there, okay. Let's get it all in there
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And then I put the lid on, and I'm ready for the next day
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Thanks guys for watching. If you have any questions, add them below. I'll have links to all these for the best price I can find on the web
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if you guys want to just buy these. And also, if you do buy one, and you look, and you use it
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please give me some feedback. Tell me what you think. All right guys, this is Chris with Lakehove
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Catch you outside
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