Seine help

[SDSOONER]

I recently posted about a pond that was drying up. I used a seine net and we got about 10 fish out. There's not a ton of fish in there to begin with as it was filled by a different pond running over. 

I need some tips on using seine net. The fish kept getting out 

[Brew City Bass]

Are you trying to catch bass with a net? I am confused. 

[Bluebasser86]

make sure you keep it close to the bottom and have weights on the bottom and floats on the top. If you walk quickly it makes it harder for the fish to get away. 

[jr231]

My grandpa taught me and my brother how to sein in the Ohio creeks. He has passed now and we still do it today to feed our pond. We get huge chubs, yellow tails, craw dads and we throw back the suckers. And have managed to avoid the water moccasins except in our actual traps ! Ha-ha. 

As for seining a pond . You need two people for sure. But you can also use three. Like blue basser said keep it as close to the bottom as possible. You would need a really big sein to effectively sein a pond. You'd want to coral them into the corner and poke the edges with the ends of the poles. All the way until you meet and then pull up. 

The third person thing I mentioned we effectively used in creeks. We would find a narrow spot and set up the sein stretched out with just a little slack. (Two people holding it, one at each end) then the third person would walk the bank around the creek and come in at a shallow side of the pool,  take a stick and beat the edges and thrash around all the way up to us. Effectively chasing the fish right into our net about 75 percent of the time .

 

[primetime]

I grew up on Long Island and as a Kid we had both a freshwater tank and saltwater tank so my brother and I would use a Seine net all day to try and catch new fish for the tank. When I was in college I graduated to a tank with 1 largemouth bass just to see how it behaved and watch it feed, one thing I learned (Off topic but bass LOVE baby catfish)

Here is how we would get fish in ponds, try to pick an area with hard bottom, not alot of weeds, but make sure you have the net firmly on bottom and have it so it is in a U shape. Have 2 people ahead of the net to flush fish out from weeds etc. and have them start spashing water to guide fish into the net. The people walking toward the net should start about 10-15 feet wide of the net and as they funnel inward toward the net you have to make sure to keep splashing water to the outside to scare fish and keep them running toward the net, but make sure you are barely making noise when moving your feet with one foot on the bottom string. You want the fish to swim into the net so you really only walk about 10-15 feet (depends on the size of the fish, bigger fish over 6" will get out if not picked up quickly) and pick up the net when the 2 people get within a few feet of the net and you need to do it quickly and make sure you don't give fish time to hit the net and then turn around and take off. That is why having chasers is key, confuses bigger fish. Guys down here will steal Bass from Ponds during the spawn since huge Females will move shallow at night on hard bottom if you spot the nests, and they do it by targeting one fish or the pair and pick off each one then move to the next. If you are trying to rescue Bass that are larger, you need to chase them in, then get them right up. They swim much faster than you realize, I tried last year to save a few fish from a dried up retention pond and it took a few hours to get 2 of them, the 3rd was impossible to get in the net. When it get's really low it is easy since the fish slow down and are losing oxygen, but you may get lucky and be able to save them. Catfish can live for months in just mud as long as it is not dry. They burrow into the mud when times get tough, kind of cool to see.