How to Care For and Condition Your Cast Net
Eugene L. 08.23.23
If you’ve ever experienced a cast net start to go stiff and “crunchy” on you I have a solution for you today. As cast nets get older and get exposed to the sun, water, and organics more they start to stiffen up. These stiffer “crunchy” nets are harder to throw because of all the memory left in the monofilament line that makes up the netting. This affects all nets eventually no matter the price point, from a cheap cast net from Walmart or a premium cast net. They all need some maintenance done on them occasionally, and with cheaper nets, you might want to condition them right off the bat before taking them out on the water. I’m conditioning a 7ft cast net that I’ve been using for a few years now that became a bit stiff over time. This is honestly an easy process to do, just takes a few things that you probably have at home and a bit of time.
All you need to condition a cast net is a bucket, water, and some fabric softener. Like I said more than likely you have all these things already. The first step would be to make sure the cast net is clear of debris. Give it a good shake to knock any grass and sticks out then give it a rinse with the hose. For a bucket, you can use a 5-gallon or a 3.5-gallon bucket, don’t go smaller than the 3.5-gallon bucket though. This bucket is the one that came with the net.
Put the cast net into the bucket horn first. I put the hand line in the middle of the cast net coiled up as well, it nestled into the middle of the netting. Make sure the lead line of the net is the last thing you place into the bucket, it will act as weights to make sure all the netting stays submerged in the fabric softener in the next soaking step.
Once the net is properly loaded into your bucket all nice and flat as shown in the picture above, start filling the bucket with some water.
Just to help make sure I got all the grass and leaves out, I stuffed the hose under the net to force water up through the net to be an extra rinse step. I just left the hose running for a little while when I went to grab the fabric softener out of the laundry room.
Once I got back with the fabric softener, I poured off a bit of the water out of the bucket and poured out a capful of the blue Downy fabric softener. I don’t think it has to be Blue Downy but the old guy who taught me how to condition my nets always swore by the stuff, so I’m sticking with it. I think other liquid fabric softeners should work but I can’t confirm.
Add in the fabric softener and mix it well into the water. I topped off the bucket and then used a piece of wood to stir it to make sure it was thoroughly mixed into the water.
If you got a lid for your bucket, close it to keep bugs out during the soak, if not its fine. Just place the bucket out of the way for the next twelve to twenty-four hours to just soak. Again the 24 hour mark comes from what the old guys told me so, don’t go past it. I assume it will start oversoften the nylon plastic of the monofilament netting.
Once 24 hours passed, the next afteroon I just poured off the fabric softener water and gave the cast net a thorough rinse. It will still smell like the fabric softener even after you rinse the net, which honestly is a lot better than smelling like stinky shad.
After the rinsing, shake off the excess water from the net and hand line, then hand the net up in the shade to dry. You need to avoid direct sunilight, the UV rays will damage the monofialment you just conditioned. When you hang the net made sure the lead line is touching the ground, you need slack in the net when its drying. If you don’t have slack it will tighten and stretch the netting again and defeat the purpose of conditioning.
Once the net is done drying, you can either go take it out on the water or store it away. If you do store it away make sure to keep the lid off for a while to let any residual moisture evaporate. You don’t want to trap moisture trapped in a sealed bucket with the net.
After conditioning the cast net, it had a nice soft feel again, with no memory left in the mesh from being put away wet in the bucket for too long. It tossed tons better this time and made netting the shad I needed a lot easier.
Besides just regulrly conditioning you cast nets there are a couple other things you need to do to keep your cast nets for a long time. Make sure to rinse out the nets after every fishing trip. You don’t want scales, slime, and other junk sitting in the nets. All those organics will rot and damage the monofilament. Also make sure to dry your cast nets out before storing them long term, the moisture in a sealed bucket can milder and mold the nets. Another thing is make sure holes and rips in the nets are reparied before throwing the net, if you keep throwing a damaged net it will damage it further. And last thing is never use soap on a cast net, the soaps will eat up the nylon monofilament and cause it to become brittle and crack. If you take proper care of your nets expect them to last years, as long as you don’t throw them onto a rock or oyster bar.
