Navigating around commercial nets

[BossHogg]

Last year going out to the east I noticed the commercial bets were strung out along the way to my destination. When it was choppy the black flags are tough to see. How do most of you guys drive around the nets? I know several times I noticed I thought I had drove around the string only to discover flags out both sides of the boat. Is that risky? How do those nets set in the water? Anyone have a diagram? Do some guys just stay 100 ft away from the bouys and drive right through the spread?

[Capt Juls]

Here you go...

http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/Home/To...spx?PostID=396

[miso_ohio]

The link Juls lefts is good, here is another one that is pretty much the same that is from Ohio Watercraft, I remember grabbing one once when I was there and it is still in my car. The important picture in there is pretty much the same one in Juls post.

http://watercraft.ohiodnr.gov/portal...ishingnets.pdf

Even though I know it well I still enjoy reading that pamphlet over and over again in the car when stuck at a railroad crossing. In a nutshell you really need someone to be on look out for those nets, especially in an area where you know they normally are. Once you see those flags start heading up to the flag (they should be going North to South). Once you can see how many flags are on it go around it with a wide berth. On our side of the lake One flag means go south, 2 flags means go north of it. By regulation one flag is closest to land.

If you have a GPS on with tracking and you are not sure if you will be coming back in the most ideal lighting. I normally run straight hard at the flag, then do a sharp turn followed by a partial arc around the flag. This is a marker for me if I am coming back and it is dark out, that there is a flag there and which way I need to be around it.

Keep in mind this can be a little tricky sometimes, especially when they have a bunch of them stacked one after another. You may be going south around a single flag then look south and see a double flag from the nets set to the south of you. For the most part the commercial netters follow those rules pretty well so the best you can do is just believe you are between 2 different set of nets and not one that is setup backwards. A lot of people just drive over them and never have any issues but for me I would rather avoid that risk if I can.

[BossHogg]

Thanks Juls and Miso_ohio. This is good information. I definitely saw that situation where several were laid out within a half mile area and it got confusing on what was what. I was unaware about the single flag and double rule of thumb.

Much appreciated.

[penalty box]

The majority of the nets run deep like 5 to 7 feet off the bottom, it's always best to go around them but when there are a bunch I usually drive through them you just have to watch very close for the floats do not run over one of those, if you see tons of floats those are the problem nets but they usually don't span very far. Last year I trolled through the fishing nets I was running 40 jets 100 back and never snagged a net with a jet, we did lose I dipsey diver. I don't make a habit of it.