They make great lobster bait for the east coast guys. But they would need to be frozen and delivered for $.55-.60 per lb. I dont know if that would be feasable to fish for them at those prices. But they would take many 100s of 1,000s of lbs weekly.

Maybe try putting loops in the net when setting, not setting in a straight line is what I am trying to say. That way when they run along the net they can get caught in the mesh that is all of a sudden at a right angle to them. Sounds like you already put a hook in the shore end. Any rules against making it like a stake set net and elevating the corkline a few feet above the water where they are jumping over? Jam some poles in the mud and tie up the corkline. Catch enough to get a big old flush deck bowpicker and have at them.

I just want to say thanks for all the help fellas. You've at least got the wheels turning.

Years Ago. An old commercail fisherman and myself were standing on a dock ,look'n out across the bay.

He said

"Boy Ya can make a small fortune out there. IF ya srart with a big one"

Has anybody tryed a Fyke net

When I worked on the Blue Sea III as a puller back in 1981, 1982... the Captains father told me that the trick to being a successful fisherman is to be able to go without a paycheck for two solid years.
He mentioned that there's a lot to learn, money has to go right back into the vessel, etc.... and that it takes time to build a solid reputation - but once you do, then it's easy because the rest will follow.
It's hard work, but very rewarding.

I was making $25.00 a day once I worked on the White Eagle II in 1983... the Blue Sea III was for free [*but the experience gained made it well worth it...]


Granted, what we were doing is very different than what the original topic of this post is about, but I would think that this logic would still hold true.

I wish you the best of luck with your venture, as I lately wished I stayed a fisherman myself, but now I am too old.

Best of luck to you buddy. Hope you figure it out and things go gang busters for ya.

I read the 1st page and have to ask what is the weight of a average fish? The twine size is very very light. If there the size I see jumping on the shows their just blowing right through it. And 4 inch sounds small. You want to be gilling them, not hanging them up on the lips, I would think a 5.5- 6.5 inch mesh maybe bigger for a 8-10 pound fish. And if your drumming them you need at least 70mm.

PineDoggin most of the fish you see on tv are generally from the Illinois river which run smaller than those we see here. The average fish weve been catching are in the 15-30 pound range. The little bit of advice we have been given from other fisherman is that the trend seems to be going to smaller mesh. More specifically 3 and 3.25 mesh. I do believe we could catch a few more fish but the large hauls we have seen at the market include a large number of the size we are catching. The fish we catch are caught on the gills and I cant say where I've seen fish barreling through the net but I'm not sure I would recognize it if I did.

Newt, did that conversation with the old fisherman ever lead to you and him discussing changing careers? I'm guessing not lol I'm not looking to make a fortune that isn't important to me. Getting to be on the water each day and work for myself as long as I can keep the billss paid is all I'm after. Towboating was close to the perfect job and the money was there but it just wasn't the same as fishing.

As for the fyke nets, they look great on paper anyway but I'm not sure as to the effectiveness. I believe some big university tried hoop nets a couple years ago to test them for asian carp and never caught a single fish so I'm not sure if the wings on the side would change that or not. That is if a fyke net is what I'm thinking of. To be honest the reason we have been using the gill nets is they are just the standard everyone uses down here so I figured if it was what the successful guys that've been around for awhile are using they probably have a reason why . Wouldn't be the first time I've been wrong though if that isn't the case.

If they were going through the net you would see holes. I suspect you are using different mesh terminology also. The 3-3.5 inch mesh you are talking about must be bar measure which is one-half size of stretch measure. However, even 6 or 7 inch stretch(or extension) measure would be very small for fish over 15 pounds, especially species like the Asian carps which all have blunt rounded heads. Based on everything you have related, I would think that the fish you are after are seeing and leading on your nets either because the mesh size is too small, the twine is too heavy or the nets are dirty. From your description, it sounds like you are floating your nets during the day. In an experimental fashion, you might try some bottom sets overnight in order to get around the spooking problem. If you continue to attempt daytime floating sets, I would for sure look for dirty water and be certain that the mesh size nets you are using are the same sizes that the successful fishers are using.

So when you say 3-3.25” mesh are you talking square or stretch mesh ? I don’t know the size head or shape of those fish but that seems small either way for15-30 lb fish.

If your gilling them it's because the twine is way to light and there breaking multiple meshes, There's no way 3 or 3.25 will work , they must be using that size in their seine nets. You need to go heavier webbing and I'll bet bigger mesh. I used 3.25 inch and 66mm to catch 1-5 lb fish not 15-30lb. A heavier net I use is 90mm 6inch and that catches the class of fish your talking about.

There are a lot of videos on YouTube on how to commercially fish for Asian carp. Some are very informative and some videos are terrible.

Keith

Newt hit the nail on the head.
Beach seine nets 3000 feet with a Fyke net blocking the end, with a last hole diameter that can be closed remotely.....make sure it is well anchored cause 3000 fish in in motion can have a lot of horse power.
They use 6 1/2 or 8 inch inch stainless re-enforce nets here for regular carp catching. those are the 15-30 pounders

I looked up pic's of them, they are nothing but head, I would look even bigger then a 6inch stretched mesh, I would think a 7.5 or 8inch stretched mesh hung on the half and at least 70 to 90 mm. That stuff you have is junk to them. Its like hair, you see how they fly out of the water. Try taking one and throwing it at your net, it's just gonna blow right threw it. I'll bet you spread your net out and find nothing but basketball size holes through out the whole net.

I continue to appreciate the responses and to try and cover as much as I can I'll try to add some detail. In ky the mesh size we are allowed to use is 3-4.25" square mesh. I guess I use the square measurement because it's how our regs are worded. I dont know a lot about mesh sizes but do know the reason the state allows the 3 inch mesh is specifically for the asian carp as they added a subsidy for smaller fish under 8 pounds and the fisherman brought up that they weren't able to catch that size fish with the mesh that was available. I assume y'all are talking stretch mesh and that is accounting for our size discrepancies. We run through our nets regular to clean and oraganize and other than the few times weve run into stumps which are a real booger bear I cant I haven't noticed any holes

I'll try and describe our setups a little better to try and cover the other questions. Our normal dead sets are set overnight in 13-25 ft. We are setting on lots of fish verified by the graph and previous experience from recreational fishing the areas finding fish is one area we aren't struggling as we do have a good bit of experience with the fish in general. These sets seem to produce on average about 3 or 4 carp per 200 foot net. Some things we've tried changing are running nets parallel in the channel, perpendicular to the channel and things like cutting off transitions to deeper water from the shallows which they go to as soon as the sun warms the water. Regardless of what we do all sets seem to have a few fish but none have a lot.

On the active sets we are generally cutting off a bay at anywhere from 8-15 ft deep. Our nets generally encompass the entire water column from shore to shore. Generally with this we will have a few fish stuck in the nets by the time we're done setting the nets. The problem we seem to be having with this is the fish are very spooky. If we block off a large enough area to prevent them from going to deeper water we cant seem to drive the fish and get them moving enough to head towards the nets. If we cut off a smaller area that is manageable most of the fish have already vacated to deeper water and the ones that are still in the back seem to be the ones we'll see jump the nets. In most these situations it does seem we catch a percentage that compares to what we say jump. Say we see 25 jump we'll catch 2. If we see a dozen jump we'll catch 1 just a rough estimation.

Stretched is the mesh pulled tight knot to knot, so your saying 4 probably is 8 inch stretched which is about right. Your problem is the webbing is way to light, might catch a few when the water is super cold ,but when your drumming them their pushing hard. If the water is any kind of cloudy or dirty they are not seeing it! How deep are the nets, are you using white driftnet corks ? Surface net or a sinking net with hard black corks? You need to make sure it's corked heavy enough so they don't push the cork line down when a body of fish hit, but get heavier webbing 1st.

Our nets are sinking but many of the times when we're drumming the nets are taller than the water so our nets ride on top. Our floats are plastic about the length of your hand and maybe an inch in diameter. Would the webbing size you suggested above what I'm after?

Are you hanging your own nets or do you buy them pre-made?

When you hang a gill net you can either hang them "in" (more net per hanging), or "even"(three meshes per hanging, each hanging = the length of one and a half meshes stretched measure), or hung "out" (still three meshes per hanging but add a little to the width of the hanging).

Example; for a net hung "even", lets say your mesh size is 7 inches stretched (that would be 3 1/2 square), then your hangings would be 7x1.5 or 10.5 inches center to center between your hanging knots, with three meshes per hanging. So if you want to hang your net "in" you shorten up the distance a bit, "out" you go a little wider.

This may sound like nitpicking, but it can be very important. A net hung "out" will be less visible to the fish, however a net hung "in" will have more web for the fish to tangle-up in; just depends on what kind of fish you're fishing for and other conditions. I know nothing about carp.

Hope this makes sense.

We have bought all our nets this far. Most came from the commercial guy we bought our boat from and the rest we ordered from memphis net ant miller net. These we're made for asian carp. You're explanation was great waggle as I've researched and spent way to much time trying to understand the hung in or even thing. I had an idea of what that meant but your description of the difference and why it matters is is much simpler
than my mind was trying to make it.

https://www.memphisnet.net/product/6767/Asian-Carp-Fishing-Nets
This is a link to some of our nets. The others are the single strand mono that appear to be hung even.