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Page 15Shiners may be taken for personal use by licensed anglers with up to six traps not over 18" long each, with an opening not over one inch in diameter, or a circular drop net not over 48 inches in diameter; or a square net of equal area. Ok, now by reading rule on page 15, it would appear that the cast net is legal if its diameter is less than 4 feet. Except a drop net is different than a cast net in that you drop the net to the bottom, bait/chum area of net and then wait and pull it after minnows move into area. The cast net is thrown over a school of minnows and pancakes a on top of em, sinking quickly to trap them in the net. As you pull the net in, it gathers on the bottom and closes the school in. Besides a 4 foot radius cast net is small and opens to an 8 foot diameter net when it pancakes properly. Much larger than allowed drop net size. I am thinking that if the word "cast net" was left out of this wording, that it is illegal by ommision?!So I am assuming (to be on the safe side) that my cast net is illegal to use for my intended purpose of collecting bait in the state of NH. I now will attempt to find out if I get permission from the owner of a private pond, will it be legal to use there?
I have a drop net I use all the time for bait fish. It has to be uner a certain size as mentioned above. Nothing illegal about those and they work the balls too. Cabelas sells them if you need to grab one. You can pick up 10 dozen in one toss if they are thich balls of bait.