Keep that fancy net away from the Bluecat nurseries and bridge columns! Lol...No quicker way to put a fella on tilt than to hang someone’s old crappie brush pile anchor with your fancy new net or hit 200 4-10” baby bluecats your first throw. Both hard lessons and crushing blows that will have you yelling some serious curse words.

Not sure if anyone is still following this thread, but I put this debate to the test 1/09/21. I’m in OK, took an 8’ Calusa (no tape) with 1.5lbs/ft and a Bett’s 7ft (factory Taped) 1.25lbs/ft net. Same mesh size on both nets, but the obvious differences being weight and tape. I threw the nets and tracked them through the shad to bottom with Livescope on a 12” screen. First and very obvious difference, the TAPED net sinks at a much slower rate, not even half the speed of the non taped net, unfortunately I did not count each throw to the bottom, but I made 12-15 throws with each net while sorting through mostly smaller shad trying to get a good amount of 10”+ shad. The second definitive conclusion, the 7’ TAPED net stayed open MUCH better than the 8’ with no tape. I have always thought I was time ahead by throwing the slightly larger 8’ heavier net, assumed faster = more shad, my comparison didn’t prove that out. The 3rd conclusion, I hands down caught MORE shad in the 7’ TAPED net. All of the throws were in 25’ of water. Obviously I did not have “scientific” controls in place but it was pretty obvious to me, the taped net holds open better and was more effective catching shad at 25’ in 42 degree water. Take from this what you will, get on a boat with Livescope, get both style nets and see it for yourself. Hope this answers your questions.

Good thing about my catfish lake, other than landing a 7 lb blue cat in it, like I did 2 weeks ago with my standard net. Not much to hang up on in the deep water, on this one. Especially down by the dam, where they really like to pack in tight.