BIG Flathead CATFISH Beware!!! Part 1: How to Hand Knit your own Hoop Nets

We're showing you how to Hand knit a hoop net in this video. Follow this 3 part series to learn the skills needed to make your own Fishing nets that catch HUGE Flathead Catfish!!!

[@lesliegurley1057]

Got the body of my first hoop net done today. I'll start the throats tomorrow. Well, since it's after midnight I'll start today.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

That's good. Hope it works out good for you. It's time consuming, but when you pull it up and it's loaded with fish, it's all worth while!!

[@clinte9897]

Holy crap, that is definitely art, ty for taking time to share it and teach others. I had no idea people actually hand tied each knot anymore. Of course that makes it hurt even more when it gets hung up or stolen!

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Yeah, you'd definitely want to protect the net, LoL.

[@user-fo4ey2yb9n]

Hey man, I just wanted to thank you for doing these videos. My grandfather used to make nets but stopped when I was too young to learn from him. I just got finished building my first net. It's not perfect, but I'm proud of it.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Proud indeed. You'll get better. Bet it catches, most do. Glad your enjoying them. We got more on the way soon. Fishing is about to bust wide open. Good luck!!!

[@laurabutler6253]

I think it's pretty darn cool you are doing this and preserving the old ways much appreciated!

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Thanks, that's what it's all about!!

[@kennethvaughan8195]

Really enjoyed your video. It is packed with info! Looking forward to the next ones.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Thanks!!! Should be this week

[@rodmanning7114]

Never seen one hand tied. You have some talent. Great video. I can see them flatheads in it.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

You'll probably get in to see them in it about April. I'm gonna fish some earlier, but not these new dipped ones I'll wait til April

[@russellverdin8339]

I'd like to thank you so very much for sharing your knowledge on how to make hoop Nets. I make cast Nets dip Nets and Gill Nets. But I was never taught by anyone how to make hoop Nets once again thank you so very much for making these videos.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Thanks. The comments mean a lot and keep us rolling!!

[@joshuaroberson1878]

Very cool! I come from a commercial fishing family and we've always made dip nets, same net tying but yours takes alot more skill! Keep the videos comin, love watching them!

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

I'll be doing another using manufactured netting!!

[@terryclark1952]

OK. I always enjoy your videos. But, this one was very educational. I learned a lot and I will diffidently use this soon. Thanks

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Your welcome!! Hope it helps

[@keithcarter6021]

Awesome vid. Thanks for the insight on this.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Thanks for watching, more coming soon!!

[@danmilbourn]

Thanks for sharing this helps alot.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

No problem, glad we can help!!

[@gregriley649]

I would love to learn how to do that craft .thank you for sharing 👍

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Your welcome. Glad you enjoyed!!

[@undergroundkustomz2796]

Thank you! New sub here in mobile Alabama. Enjoying all your videos!

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

My Mom is from Semmes. I spent a lot of time in Mobile in my younger days. Went to Mary Montgomery school

[@undergroundkustomz2796]

@@godscountryhuntingfishing1638 I also went to Mary G Montgomery! Grew up in fairview. Would love to stay in touch. Maybe meet someday. Or come go fishing with us on our houseboat. Got a camp on Tombigbee river in McIntosh!

[@undergroundkustomz2796]

@@godscountryhuntingfishing1638 we are the same age as well.

[@RaisedOutdoors]

Quite an involved process

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Indeed it is, LoL

[@chrisbuzzard2536]

My dad used to make them, ran them at bayou pigeon, La. I never learned how to do it, wish i would have

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Fortunately, that's what our videos are for. We wanted to try to preserve it for people like yourself. You should be able to watch the video series and do it. Good luck if you try. I'll always answer any questions on here or you can look us up on Facebook

[@mountainfeist3750]

You are unreal with what you know. Never new none of that!

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Naw man, just getting old. Learn a lot in lot of years🤣

[@landonpackard8935]

After you finish the very first row of loops and you tie the two ends together, when you start the second row,.....do you tie back into your very first loop on that you did on the top and go from there or do you just tie into whichever loop is the next one hanging down? Hope this question makes sense.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

You just take the needle and start tying into the bottom of the next loop. Your tying in 1 bar, or half a stretch mesh each round. 2 rounds = 1 square mesh. Once you get down a couple loops, cut that starting mesh out because it will slip. Get rid of it and then run your hanger string back through all your loops

[@robertsachs277]

Bradley when are you going to do your hoopnet build with a factory machined webbing?

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Sorry, we're working on it now. It's taking me some time because I've been on 12 hour nights for 2 weeks, and probably will be 2 more weeks due to a mill outage. We're still fishing and filming some content so we keep things rolling. I'll try to be rolling the net build out over the next couple weeks. Thanks for watching!!!

[@drewdouglas4883]

I wished we could use nets that little Here in Mississippi 3” square is it

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Yeah, that's tough. I get it on certain bodies of water, but state wide is tough

[@robertphillips516]

Can I use 38 on 3” mess 3’ hoops? Mississippi calls for 3”. Love y’all’s channel. Been looking on how to make hoop nets for years.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

I've never seen a 3 ft 3in mesh net. However I think 38 would be too many mesh on a 3 ft net. I'd go to 3.5 ft hoops on a 3 in net, and it would have closer to 34-36 mesh on 3 in. I think a 3 ft set of hoops would be about 28-30 mesh at 3 in. However, before you build it, Call nets and more. He should have the patterns for all different sizes, and will be happy to tell you his recommendation. Sorry I couldn't help more, but if you get a for sure answer reply back to me on this thread. What I'm going off of is my 2.5 mesh 3.5 ft nets are 38-40 mesh on 3.5in tie points around the hoop. Circumference of a 3 ft hoop is 113in. Divide that by 30 and you get roughly 3.76 in. That would be spacing on knots on your hoop. 28 mesh would put it at 4 in on the outer hoop. Your mesh is 1in full mesh bigger than my 2.5, so 3.75-4in would be ok spacing

[@robertchall8576]

Back in the80s I ordered a book and some shuttles and gauges from net craft just to fool around I tied some dip nets and clothes bag. I liked usiing that good bonded line from Memphis net and twine u tie a not it want come out. Make your fingers soar.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

That's right. I split all that knitting up into several of afternoons for that be reason, lol

[@rockieramshur5799]

Tha k you for sharing the information on this art . Could you possibly send me a link to the second and third parts to this series , and a link to the other you refer to on making a hoop net with the machine bought webbing please... keep up the good work sir.. I'm in winnfield , would love to meet you someday and learn more from you... God bless you sir .

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Not sure what phone your running, but if you are subscribed to our channel, you should see a notification tab with a 🔔. Set that bell to ALL and make sure your phone notifications are enabled. You'll get a notification when we release each video. I've recorded the other two and that nets complete, but still editing them. Should come out this week

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

You can also click on videos in the main tab on the main channel page and see All the videos we have. 118 videos on there now as of today.

[@mrlevd04]

Hello. I live here in Monroe and really enjoy ur videos. I am trying to make the second flute in a 4 ft wire net. I don't know the measurements of how much I should start taking up towards the end of the flute to make it smaller. Does that make sense?

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

I'm not home right now, but I'll try to look at mine when I get home and add another reply on what would work. What size is your Mesh?

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Ok, mine are 1-1/4 in mesh. Front flew is 5 mesh deep, 40 mesh round it. It's tied out on 4 corners to make it square. Second flew is tapered down to 20 mesh at the end, tied flat with two lines and one out each side. That flew is 10-1/2 meshes long. That said I'm gonna make mine a little longer throat, and a little more meshes there so bigger fish can get through it.

[@georgeparrault9945]

Tying Hoop Webbing Sure Quicker than Tying Fiddler Webbing.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

I'd not tie fiddler webbing🤣

[@user-cg1mu6nz9o]

When is the best place and how do you tie in your twine when you rethread your needle . Enjoy the channel keep up the great videos

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

I know that's in those videos somewhere. I just take both pieces and tie a regular overhand knot at 2.5 inches so it matches the other mesh. Leaving a long tag line to tie each round back on. Never had one come undone. Hope this helps!!

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Or tie at whatever size mesh your making

[@user-cg1mu6nz9o]

@@godscountryhuntingfishing1638 thanks for the quick reply i probably missed it in the video keep bringing the videos great job

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

No problem!!

[@lesliegurley1057]

How many meshes should I leave after the last hoop on a diameter of 23-24 inches?

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Normally similar to the amount between hoops. Main thing is enough to sinch them down together and tie it out

[@houseof2]

Hi if you used tarred line the knots wouldn't slip on you,or they didn't on mine.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Thanks!! Mine aren't slipping, I'm just stressing to tighten them good to everyone. They will if not pulled tight for sure

[@stevewilliams505]

Where do you get your hoops? Or can I make my own? If so how?

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

I buy my hoops from Nets & More. You can make your own, but that's something I've never done. Fiberglass would be pretty difficult and messy. Hoops used to be made out of white oak slats. That's a patient task. They also sell hoop steel you can make steel hoops from, but some say they don't catch as good. I've only used it for making crab nets

[@russellverdin8339]

On your throats that are 2.5" to 3" mesh how many meshes long would you go down before you start taking up? And what would be your take up numbers?

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

I have that video edit Edited and will release it as soon as I get it uploaded. Hopefully today. Our wifi is terrible.

[@russellverdin8339]

Also I don't know if I had asked you this before or not but are you going to do a video showing how you make your wire catfish traps?

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Yes, I'm planning on that. It will probably be this summer when fishing slows down a bit or may work on it some on rainy days. The next 2-3 months will be packed full of fishing and creating content for us while fishing is good. Long term our plan is to do those build type videos as fishing slows kinda in the off seasons. That's gonna keep our content rolling year round and the channel performance up as a whole

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

My plans are to do the wire net build videos next for you guys after this hoop net build, so y'all have the basics of everything. Then we will probably come back and do different builds with different size hoops and mesh sizes

[@Dylan1094]

I haven't finished watching yet so if you answer I'll delete lol.. how long start to finish does it take to do this? Old school method vs the machined?

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

I'm not fast cause I don't do it a lot. I'ma say I got 16-20 hours in this hand knitted net, but it takes longer while trying to film also. I'ma say it's gonna take me at least 8 hours on the machines netting one

[@russellverdin8339]

Oh I almost forgot to ask you where do you live? I live in Cut Off along Bayou Lafourche

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Where in Union parish, but we travel all over fishing

[@russellverdin8339]

I have another question for you what is the math that you use to figure out how many measures you need to go on any size hoop?

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

I need to understand your question better. Are you asking math to calculate the numbers of square mesh around to cover various hoops of different sizes and different mesh size? To come up with how many mesh the barrel is for a given size hoop and mesh size, I've always just went off patterns of other nets and tweaked to suit my liking. However, the net companies have patterns written out for all different hoop sizes with various size square mesh. Their patterns already are pretty close. They will be happy to share with customers. Also if you have a certain size net and mesh in mind, if I have that net, I'll be happy to share my patterns.

[@russellverdin8339]

Yes like I would be using two and a half inch mesh and I would need to know how to calculate On Any Given hoop how many measures I would need to cover the hoop if if I'm explaining myself a little better

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Example: I want a 3ft (36in) hoop net with 1.5in mesh. I know my largest hoop is 36in. I need to know my circumference of that hoop first. (C=πD). Circumference= Pi × Diameter C = 3.14 x 36. C = 113 Now if I got 1.5in square mesh I need to know how many mesh around I need. Since my mesh will sit diagonal on the net, I need to know the diagonal of 1.5in square, so I can divide my Circumference by my diagonal square. Diagonal Square = √2 x 1.5. D = √2 x 1.5 D = 2.12 Now if divide my Circumference by my diagonal C ÷ D = number of mesh around my barrel of the hoop net 113 ÷ 2.12 = 54 Now that said, that's a perfectly square mesh. Most nets don't tie in that tight, so we want to round that up some so that mesh sits long diagonal. Stretch it tight and we end up with a shorter, less effective net. I'm gonna build that net 58-60 mesh. I've seen quite a few with 60 mesh. My 42in 2.5in mesh net calculated out at 38 mesh. I build the hand knitted one at 38, but the new one working on now I added 2 more mesh for 40. I think I'll like it better. You can vary, but I'd round up some from the calculation. However, can't go wrong with the net companies recommendation I think. Hope this helps!!

[@russellverdin8339]

@@godscountryhuntingfishing1638 I'd like to thank you so very much for all your help I really appreciate it

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

40 mesh on a 3.5. you can test out the formulas I give in other reply on different sizes, but before ordering, for sure get the net companies pattern card. They will text you a picture of the patterns. They show how many mesh between hoops and everything. That said, you can vary from the pattern, but if anything, I say go longer. Longer nets I think catch better. Like if they call for 5.5 mesh between hoops, go 6. Hope this helps

[@lesliegurley1057]

How do you keep the mesh the same size once it comes off the board? I have pulled on the twine when pulling the knot tight so hard that #15 twine almost cuts my skin from the pressure. As soon as the mesh comes off the board the knots loosen up and I end up with a multitude of different sizes on the first set of meshes. Then building on those the rest are a multitude of sizes.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Be easy on that first set. Once you get a couple sets done, cut that first set out and get rid of them😉

[@lesliegurley1057]

@godscountryhuntingfishing1638 the first set gets me, the knots always loosen up then the meshes are odd sizes making the rest of them off because I can't tie onto different sized meshes and not have the ones tied onto them be different sizes. How do you keep them from moving and making the mesh sizes off? It's giving me a lot of trouble.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

@lesliegurley1057 you just gotta be careful with that part. Don't pull to one side and hold back up with your opposite hand. Once you make first round and couple more done, cut the top set out and get rid of them . Hang top one back on loop and finish out. It's not easy or everyone would do it. Another guy commented about a different knot that don't slip there, but I've never used it

[@lesliegurley1057]

@godscountryhuntingfishing1638 I don't understand what you mean by pulling to one side and holding back up with the other hand. I wish I was in your area, I would ask you to watch me run a couple of rows and then you could tell me what I'm doing wrong and show me how to correct it. As far as I can tell I'm copying what you did in the video, but I must be doing something different that I don't realize I'm doing. I guess I'll just have to keep starting over till it finally clicks and things kind of come together. However many hundred times that takes. It's just hard to pick up a new skill by watching videos and not having any feedback from someone with experience.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

@lesliegurley1057 try this and see if it helps. Try doubling the knot. Tie your knot, which is essentially a slip knot, then come back over between the two lines again and tie the netting knot. That will give you double the grip and may not slip on you. Like I said, once you get a couple runs, cut the top one out

[@tdeaux]

That's gotta be a lost art.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

It is, that's why I did these videos to try to preserve a little of this. Technology is great, but it's killing our young's will to learn things like this until we need it. Hopefully when things get bad, they will still have access to these videos. I'm afraid the way our country is being run, we got some bad times coming😳

[@davidnewcreationmason2458]

Man is there anyway you could send me a link on how to tie that knot, having trouble with it

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Go to our shorts list. Go to main page of our channel and click on shorts. The knot is in there. Let me know if you still have trouble

[@davidnewcreationmason2458]

Figured it out man, do you have a video explaining the math that goes into building a net? Gonna build one from scratch and then build some with the factory webbing but I want to make sure I buy enough webbing for 36” 7 hoop net

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

@davidnewcreationmason2458 when you call to order material, tell them what size net you want to build and they will help you on the mesh size and measurements needed. They do it every day, so they have drawn out blueprints. Their throats will be different, but the barrels the same

[@andrepatterson7058]

👍🏽👍🏽

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Thanks!!

[@martinbauer3021]

How much would a catfish hoop nets about 10' long.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

You asking cost or what?

[@martinbauer3021]

Yeah I like to buy one around 3' round 8' long.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

@martinbauer3021 don't worry about length. Get diameter you want and length will be what it is. Hoop nets have to be certain lengths to lay out and fish properly. They do vary in length, depending on who builds them, but just don't bother talking length. Just look for and buy a 3ft diameter in whatever mesh size is legal in your state

[@godkingcthulhu138]

🐙

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Thanks

[@godkingcthulhu138]

@@godscountryhuntingfishing1638 thank you. I love netmaking videos

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

@@godkingcthulhu138 gonna be putting out several, so make sure you select ALL on Notifications!! Thanks for watching

[@AdrenalineTurkeyCall]

That’s it. I’m submitting your name to go in that survivor show called Alone. Brush up on your shelter building skills bubba.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Shelter building 101 next on God's Country Hunting and Fishing 🤣🤣🤣

[@alexbondarev8986]

Sorry, sir. It seemed to me that the first loops on the net were tied with a slip knot. It is very easy to tie not sliping knots on loops at the beginning of your net. If you are interested, I will try to make a video on how to form non-slip loops. English is not my native language. But I think it won't be very difficult. And further. Do the sheet knots not slip off the cells over time?

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

No they don't slip after we dip them in tar or netting dip. We use non fiber roofing tar

[@alexbondarev8986]

@@godscountryhuntingfishing1638 Thank you. I didn't know about this method. So the knots are stuck together! Those. It is possible to knit with loose knots. This is amazing. Now it is clear. I tie knots with what is called a flying Dutchman with an extra loop. A simple Flying Dutchman will take half as much time. Good news for me. Thanks again.

[@muddmaddness]

Forgot to tell the younger guys why it’s important to marry a country girl keep them rolling out

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

LoL, you must not have watched all our videos yet🤣. I do tell them reasons in some. Most will figure it out, but they will be broke by time they do🤣🤣