El Gato told me about his deep hole net so I bought one because I knew if he used it it's probably gonna be good. I went to my shad whole where I thought some gizzards where and threw my old net 3-4 times. I had my extension rope on it so it would make it down to the bottom. Nothing. Not one shad. So I got out the new net.. One throw and 6 big gizzards. Throw second time... 5-6 more gizzards and a big crappie. My other net just either folded up on the way down or something but I will never use it again in 20 plus feet of water.
Get a light weight net and practice the method maybe and move up to a heavier net. I discovered I was throwing mine backwards. Hold out a fold to the side and throw the heavy end. Works great now that I'm doing it correctly. Finally read the directions
Dont waste your time with that Shad trawl! Cast nets are easy to throw with a little practice. I got my first net when I was 13 and I figured it out on my own in my back yard pretty quick and that was over 30 yrs ago before YouTube! Lol!! Now you can watch a video and be throwing decent in 5 minutes. Start with a 5-6ft net and work your way up to a 7 heavy. Locating Shad and being able to catch them easily is a huge part of catfishing. Not only for getting bait but also for locating fish. The better you get at patterning and locating the right bait, the easier it will be to locate feeding cats. And thanks for the kind words OakpointAggie! Im happy to help you out even if you are an Aggie! Lmao!!
Its part of catfishing catching the bait at all cost sometimes the price is high for those babies....NO to the shad trawl start with a small net and advance... i tell ya what i would do i would find someone that can throw one and have them teach me....... its not as hard as ya think... Good Luck!