How to Throw a Cast Net: A Step-by-Step Guide

A cast net that lands in a rope is one of the more demoralising things in fishing, particularly with people watching. The good news is that it is almost always one of three fixable problems, and none of them is strength.

Before you throw: pick a net you can actually open

Most people who struggle are fighting the lead weight, not the radius. A net at 1.5 lb per foot carries twice the lead of one at 3/4 lb per foot, and that is what is beating you.

If you are learning, start with a 4 to 6 foot net at 3/4 lb per foot. You can move up later. A 6-footer you open perfectly catches far more bait than an 8-footer you rope every time.

The method (right-handed — reverse if left-handed)

1. Set the horn. Put the hand line loop around your left wrist and coil the excess line in your left hand. Never skip the wrist loop.

2. Gather the net. Hold the net up by the horn and let it hang straight so the lead line is clear of tangles. Take the net in your left hand about halfway down.

3. Split the lead line. With your right hand, reach down and pick up the lead line at roughly the point furthest from you, and bring it up into your left hand. You now have the net divided into two halves hanging.

4. Take a bite. Put a section of the lead line in your teeth — yes, genuinely, this is standard technique — or over your left shoulder if you prefer. This is what holds the third point of the circle.

5. Grab the final section. With your right hand take the remaining lead line about a third of the way round.

6. Throw. Rotate your body to the right, then unwind hard to the left and release everything at the same moment, throwing out and slightly up rather than down at the water. Let the rotation do the work.

The net should open flat and land as a circle.

The three reasons it ropes

You threw down instead of out. The most common fault by far. Aim your throw at a point above the water and let it fall open. Throwing down at the surface gives the net no time or space to spread.

You used your arms instead of your body. The power comes from rotating your torso, like throwing a discus. Arm strength does not open a net; rotation does.

The lead line was tangled before you threw. Always let the net hang free and shake it out first. A net that goes into the water with the lead line crossed cannot open, no matter how well you throw.

After the throw

Let it sink fully before you pull. This is where impatience costs bait — the lead line has to reach bottom and close, and pulling early lifts the net like an open umbrella and everything swims out underneath.

Then retrieve with a steady pull on the hand line. Do not jerk.

Practice on grass

Genuinely. A lawn or a park, with an old net, for twenty minutes. You can see exactly what the net did, there is nothing to snag on, and you are not burning a fishing morning learning.

Most people get a full circle within an hour of dry practice.

Make it last

Rinse in fresh water after every single trip. Salt crystallises in the mesh and cuts the fibres. Dry it before storing — a wet net in a hot garage rots.

Do both and a good net outlives several rods.

Not sure which net to buy? Read our guide to radius, mesh and lead weight, or browse cast nets.