The biggest mistake that newbies make is to not let the net sink to the bottom. When I first met bonehead, I told him to let the net sink and he told me that you didnt have to. After he learned that you do let the net sink, his catch rate went up 100%. lol

The higher you are from the water, the easier it is to get a good open net. Easier to throw!! You just have to have a longer rope.

Classic

Randy is right, Practice Practive Practice. Throw on your lawn so you don't waste valuable lake time. Don't worry about distance just concentrate on opening it. the 4 footer will be easier but once you get "D's" going at least use the 6 footer on the lake for better results.

Main key is getting a good spin on the net like a frisbee. the more the spin the more it opens. The other techniques they use like tossing it straight out from the chest and poof it opens, don't know how they do it, never tried, besides they can't get the distance as the old school spin and whip it style although it would help when your throwing from something with limited standing room. I learned with a big net, so I still use the spin in a circle technique with a 6' net or larger.

The spinning "like a frisbee" works great for me too because the centrifugal force draws the rotating weights away from the center of the rotation. The faster the spin the bigger the opening. If I want to cast further 5-10 yds, then I do the olympics "shot put" motion with my steps. Just make sure the rope is secured to your wrist, hehe.

I traveled a 3rd world country once and saw the chest/shoulder technique you are talking about, and man, that left me scratching my head. The guy was using a large 10+ net, bundled neatly on his shoulder, from the front of a large canoe he threw it high from his chest/shoulder area and then it opened like a beautiful fireworks. Amazing! Never tried it tho.

I'm sorry to disrupt, but that cat video thing you have is hysterical:)

I could open up a mexican rest with as many tacos I throw. Getting better, just too lazy to practice in my front yard.

thanks you all for the links

there are a hundred free ones on the internet......

?!?!?!

I got this link from here the Texas Fishing forum. It works but they are still hard to find. If you only fish a few times a year the shad move around also. That does not help with catching them.

http://www.calusa.com/howtothrow.cfm

Before the internet with all the wonderful film clips and tutorials, I taught my husband how to throw a castnet even though I cannot throw one. I told him how to do based on my observations of watching others who could throw one. All I can say is it worked. It was fairly amusing.

If you know of someplace where fresh water is flowing into the lake or river, that is usually a very good spot to catch threadfin shad. Where we fish on the Washita has a small spring fed lake and water is usually flowing into the Washita from that lake. One or two throws will usually get you more than enough bsit.

are you talking about Washita point on Lake Texoma or is that another lake? I'm not sure but i have a hard time finding Shad.