I was wondering where most of you look to catch bait fish with a cast net. Do you target boat ramps, docks, coves, flats, etc.? And what size cast net has yielded the best results? 8, 10, 12 or 16 ft? Going to focus on using more live bait this year and I could use some help finding the bait fish. Thanks for any advice in advance!

Keep in mind only 7 ft nets which are 14 ft wide is the largest legally to throw in Texas public waters.

As mentioned 7ft in Texas. As far as shad usually if I�m targeting threadfin I get up before sunrise and hit my green lights. Depending on the time of year will determine where. But most lakes have known , consistent bait holes. For gizzard I like back of coves and along bulkheads. In summer seems heat of the day the best. Look for flips

Outside of the normal areas you'll find shad I usually look for an area where the grass comes down to the waters edge. Another thing that can help you find shad is birds. If you see a bird hanging out in an area, usually there is food (shad) nearby.

Pretty soon, all the threadfin you want will be running along the banks. Like BrandoA mentioned, early is best.

Always look for an oldman ( bird ) walking the banks. And if you see 2 old farts together almost guarantee bait. they aren't friendly to one another

Best advice I can give is head for the upper end of any lake your trying to catch bait at. Water that has color to it it much easier to catch bait in. There is more bait there and they can�t see the net.
Darkness is your friend. Bait is shallower and again they don�t see the net.
At PK we often catch bait in the river and fish at the dam.

Wow, thanks for the input guys! Great advice I will surely follow.

Randy gives good advise. Many times at PK in that clear water I have thrown a nice circle net only to watch the shad school bolt as they see it coming. I still usually get a few but it sure is easier when they can't see the net.

I catch shad daily in creeks of 7' of water or less, year around.

Also I use a cast net with 1/4 inch mesh

I've had the best luck an hour before sunrise under dock lights. Bigger, brighter dock lights are better. A word to the wise though, docks are also a good place to get your net hung up on all sorts of [censored] down in the water. Sometimes boat ramps or other areas where concrete extends down into the water can be productive. The concrete transfers solar heat into the water, and shad like that. I've found a lot of shad in marinas in the evening around or just after sunset. The problem there is you will have trouble keeping them alive overnight.

I recommend throwing the largest legal size with us 7 ft radius/14 ft diameter net in Texas. 1/2 inch mesh works perfect. Right now I can throw my net anywhere at phantom in deeper water and catch plenty of shad as long as I clip on an extra 12 feet of rope to my mainline as it descends.

A solid advice is to get to the lake before light as we move away from winter and throw the net around light sources such as boat ramps, marinas, and bridges. This often is an easy and fool proof way of catching Shad until the dead of summer hits then I find they don�t seem to gather around light as much at my lake.

A basic tip which you probably very well know is to focus on wind blown counter changes and points. That is always solid advice. Eventually you will learn your body of water and start predicting what will happen throughout the year if you take notes.

Shop around and try to find a net that has more weight per foot than normal. Makes a huge difference on
How fast it sinks and will get you a lot more shad because they can�t outrun it and get past the edge as easy as the standard weight ones. You have to get them online. I can�t recall the name but there�s an outfit in Florida that had a good selection of sizes and weight per foot choices. Smaller mesh also takes longer to sink due to the increased drag from the additional surface area of line that�s needing to sink. After you watch the majority of them swim out from under your net time after time, the heavy weight fast sinkers will really make you happy,

Eventually, you'll learn what shad look like vs crappie on your sonar by throwing a net.


If you ever get this many catfish in your net like I did with crappie on this throw, just go ahead and put your rods away because it will take you about 3 days to get those little %&*@$! out of your net. IF you can get all of them out.....

It doesn't take that long to cut your net into little pieces!