You may want to practice with an expensive net first till you feel confident before moving up to better high quality net. There is a big difference between Low end and high- end nets, its like night and day. Your high-end nets will fan out a lot better and sink a lot faster, and they are a lot easier to throw
You should try and go with a larger net, at least 6ft unless you are throwing in little tiny creeks or if the baitfish are schooled up and you can visually see them all the time. With smaller diameter nets your going to throw a lot more because you are not covering as much water. Like anything you do it?s going to take practice. I do like to use a 6? net when throwing in boat slips or when I?m up in small feeder creeks.
My fishing is done all in freshwater and YES you are going to get the net hung sometime or another (believe me you just got to accept that and deal with it) I usually will go thru a couple nets a season.
I had a 10ft net absolutely trashed last summer when I made a throw into what appeared to be a school of skipjack herring ended up being a school of gar.
It was so heavy we could not even lift it in the boat. There was gar 5? long and a bunch of them with their teeth mangled and wrapped in the net everywhere it was way beyond salvaging.
I personally like to throw a 8 ft ?West Coast True Spread Net? the majority of the time
www.westcoastnets.com These are really good high end nets that don?t have the real high end cost, and they have one of the best instructional videos out there too!
Calusa makes another low end net (Cracker nets) but as you will find you can get a 8? West Coast net for $100.00 and a 8? Cracker net for $150.00. Spending a little money on a cast net is very justifiable when you consider the price of bait, and there is nothing better than using natural bait from the waters you intend on fishing.
It?s like the Master Card commercials
Cast Net $100.00
Instructional video on how to use it $10.00
Making your first perfect throw and getting a net full of bait ?PRICELESS!?
A good tip when using any net is to soak it in a bucket of water and add some fabric softener as it will soften up your net. Always spray your net with freshwater when done using it for the day and hang it vertical in the shade to dry. Try and keep it out of the sun whenever not in use. If you get a hole in it make sure to patch it up as a small hole will become a LARGER hole in time.
Best Fishes
Cast Netting
