Does a 'taped' casting net work that well for shad? I am reading the 'taped' net will stay open wider as it gets deeper in the water.
Will the shad (bait fish) get out from under the net before it gets to the bottom by the net falling so SLOW?
Is the taped net more effective than a regular net during the winter when trying to catch deeper shad?
Does anybody use the 'taped' net during the spring and summer to get shad?
..... Trying to figure out if I should order one...

I'd PM Bob (Holding the Line) , he's actually been in the design phase of a net with tape

https://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/users/27317/holding-the-line

Taped nets do in fact stay open better, and will increase your catch. Get the heaviest one you can throw, and I prefer 1/2” or 5/8” mesh. I typically use artificial lures in the winter for stripers, but I do throw the net in deep water to get Shad for catfishing. I have netted Shad as deep as 50’ or so with one, they usually come with 25’ of line, so just tie on another 25’ or more and you will be good. The Shad are bunched up tight in the winter, they are in deep dark water, and I have never experienced them dodging the net like they do in summer up shallow. I have thrown on Shad that we’re bunched up in creek channels and barely been able to get the net in the boat it was so full. I don’t use small Shad, and my go to net is 5/8” mesh and 1.5 lbs/foot lead.

Bob Maindelle pointed me to Betts deep hole series cast net when I asked him a few years ago and I love it.

I use the Betts deep hole as well. In the summer when the shad are shallow, I throw a Betts old salt in the daytime. The fish swim under my blue Ahi more than my clear net.

I use my Ahi net at night. It’s heavier and sinks faster. Once the fish are deeper than 20, throw the deep hole. I will try to shoot a video that shows the nets on the Panoptix. The non taped nets collapse while the taped nets spread out...

Taped with a long tag line . Mine is 7 foot with 1.5 lbs per foot catches bait year round, as you will need the extra tag line come winter to catch bait and chum for finicky fish whether dead sticking for stripes or crappie .

Bob Maindelle here. I have attached a link to a video which fellow guide Jason Weisberg (REEL Fishing Guide Service on Richland Chambers) and I shot last fall. We used Garmin LiveScope technology to capture the video through Garmin's ActiveCaptain app.

In the video, Jason and I throw identically weighed nets of the same mesh size simultaneously. As you can see, the tape net remains wide open, while the standard net collapses as it falls. While the tape net does fall more slowly, the useful area covered by the tape net is much more important to me than sink rate. We used very fine, 1/4" mesh, so, the sink rate you see is slower than standard mesh sizes (3/8 and 1/2") will yield.

Bottom line, as a guide counting on collecting live bait quickly and consistently, I would not throw anything other than a tape net in water more than ~12' deep.

Some folks in this string have mentioned some tape net research/development I was part of. This effort was with Fitec. The end result was a 5/16" mesh tape net which they now carry and which does an incredible job of NOT gilling smaller, bait-sized threadfin shad, thus increasing the number of useful baits remaining lively in your bait tank, and reducing the amount of time you have to fool with clearing out gilled bait stuck in your net (which does slow your net's fall rate).

I hope this helps!



TAPE NET COMPARISON VIDEO

Awesome Bob! Thanks for sharing again!

That was a really good video showing both at the same time. Thanks Bob

Bob,
THANK You for your time in responding to my questions.
Thank You to ALL of you for your input!
It has been Very Informative for me, hopefully, others as well.

/\/\/\/\ Indeed, great post and info, I have been meaning to ask this exact question but always slips my mind when I get on here

Pretty eye-opening right there ! Thanks !

You can tape your own nets too, I taped a cheap 7' Fitec S100L from Academy with re-enforced packing tape and swapped out the line for a 50' one. I got these last month in just shy of 50' of water on Lake Belton. The net needs more weight, but it stays open all the way to the bottom. I watch it on livescope, looks just like Bob's post. Takes about 45 min to tape one, and more tape that you would think.

Ok, how do I tape one?

There is a guy on Youtube that shows how they put 'tape' on their casting nets...