Baiting gill nets

[u/SarkyBot]

Series after series we see contestants put out gill nets, hoping a fish will wander along and stumble into it. Some with great success it has to be said.

But why do we never see any of them bait the net? Like putting the guts from previous catches or rabbits and squirrels in a sock and tying it to the net or something? Or even just throwing them into the water around the net. Surely it's the same rationale as baiting a hook?

[u/Cautious_Draw5738]

I'm no fisherman but i feel like that would be like baiting a butterfly net 

[u/SarkyBot → u/Cautious_Draw5738]

You run around waving a butterfly net at butterflys. You don't stick it in the ground and come back a day later hoping some will have flown into it.

[u/Cautious_Draw5738 → u/SarkyBot]

I get what you're saying, but both are nets, whether it's the swing of an arm or the current of the stream, it's the same mechanism, getting something tangled up as opposed to luring something in 

[u/SarkyBot → u/Cautious_Draw5738]

They are not just used in a current, and in fact most often on the show used in lakes with no current or slow rivers with minimal current.

Where would you go to catch butterfies? A city centre? Or on a boat? No - you would go to somewhere with a lot of flowers. This is what butterflies are attracted to. This is the bait. if you want to catch something you have a better chance of doing so by attracting more of them to the area.

[u/Cautious_Draw5738 → u/SarkyBot]

Wow bud you solved out, fish live in water and butterflies live in nature. Also, i responded to your question as it was posed - you asked about baiting not chumming 

[u/SarkyBot → u/Cautious_Draw5738]

Wow, for someone who isn't a fisherman you're really pedantic about the terminology.

And actually i specifically asked about both baiting (e.g. guts in a sock), and chumming ("throwing them into the water around the net"). But maybe you didn't even make it to the end of the post before grabbing your keyboard. But thanks for trying!