Ouch, Ouch OUCH

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Ouch

 

Went Fishing yesterday..it was great...but the sun was a lot stronger than I had given it credit for (due to the clouds, and a cooling breeze)...and although I kept my sleeves rolled down...my wrist is now rather red and a bit sore, on an area that must have escaped my factor 4000 cream! (no, I don't want a tan...I happen to like looking like a raw chicken's leg thank you!)

 

2 Nice Chub, a slab of a Bream...a good Roach, lot's of small bits...and nearly a Carp too... (I say nearly, as he took my bait, shot off into the weeds...the hook pulled out, and the whole lot...hook, weights and float) came pinging back towards my face at mach 2) if it had not been for my lightening quick, ex five a side Goalie reflexes, I would have been wearing the whole ensemble to the nearest casualty dept, as opposed to it hitting my hat!

 

Great Days....roll on next weekend, when I can do it all again

Edited June 21, 2010 by UK_Widowmaker

[Olham 164]

Sun cream factor 4000 is a good choice. I had a nasty burn last year in Ostfriesland.

It was almost cloudless and slightly windy, so I didn't feel the sun's warmth on the skin.

But since we don't have the UV filter of the ozon layer anymore, the rays come down

on our skin, and so on sunny days, a good sun protection cream is inevitable.

 

Sounds like paradise - the lazy days of summer, spent fishing in England - what more

should one need?

[Hasse Wind 46]

Olham, fortunately things aren't yet so bad that we have completely lost the ozone layer. The depletion rate of ozone has decreased dramatically since the 1970s, when people realized that certain chemical compounds (CFC) are destroying the layer. If action hadn't been taken then to ban them altogether, or to reduce their use greatly, it has been estimated that by 2050 there wouldn't have been much ozone left. And that would be really bad, because then nothing would stop UV radiation of all wave-lengths from penetrating the atmosphere and harming living beings, including humans. The ozone layer will eventually fix itself when the last of nasty compounds are gone.

 

But it's still a very good idea to keep using those sun creams, especially if one has skin like Widowmaker's raw chicken's leg!

 

 

[zoomzoom 2]

"Sun cream factor 4000"

 

Isn't that basically white latex paint!?

 

ZZ.

[+hgbn 91]

Match or Pole rod?

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Match or Pole rod?

 

Bit of a mixture...Using a float rod, and a 6m whip

[Bullethead 12]

Sun cream factor 4000 is a good choice. I had a nasty burn last year in Ostfriesland.

 

Factor 4000 in the UK and Ostfriesland?!?!?!?!? :yikes:Whine whine whine:boredom:

 

Listen, lads. I live in Lousy Anna's armpit and yesterday was the inappropriately named Midsummer Day. You know what that means? It means the effective Equator right now is directly on the very appropriately named Tropic of (Skin) Cancer, at a bit over 23^ N. My latitude is just a hair over 30^N. Most of the day, nothing here casts a noticeable shadow, what with dawn at 0500-ish and it not fully dark until about 2100. It's been hitting 95^F and 70-90% humidity with clear blue skies and absolutely zero wind for the last couple of weeks, unless one of the WIDELY scattered thunderstorms appears overhead. Then you get a very gentle breeze, it drops down to about 88^F but the humidity goes up to 100% so it actually feels worse, like a dog panting on you, and it usually doesn't rain. Most days, we hit 90^F about 1100 and it doesn't get below that until about 0330 the next day. But at 0700, it's still 85^F.

 

Anyway, I've got the skin of my UK and Friesland ancestors so I don't tan much to speak of, mostly just burn and freckle. I spend quite a bit of time outside, and I only use SPF 15 sunblock. That's more than enough to avoid problems. I haven't gotten sunburned in years. In fact, Sunday morning when it was nice and cool (as in a bit less than 90^F), I went out for a couple hours to test and adjust some new atlatl darts I'd just made. So much sweat ran down my arms that the whole pinky edge of both my hands pruned up, ISYN, but I didn't burn. So don't give me that Factor 4000 crap when you all live up there so close to the Arctic .

 

Olham, fortunately things aren't yet so bad that we have completely lost the ozone layer. The depletion rate of ozone has decreased dramatically since the 1970s, when people realized that certain chemical compounds (CFC) are destroying the layer. If action hadn't been taken then to ban them altogether, or to reduce their use greatly, it has been estimated that by 2050 there wouldn't have been much ozone left.

 

Remember that commercial in the 1st RoboCop movie where they were advertising massive sunblock? That was a product of those times.

 

BTW, every day the sun makes new ozone. It's unavoidable.

[zoomzoom 2]

Hey Bullet, How's your accuracy with that atl-atl? I hear once you're good, you can get pretty good distance and penetration. You using flint/obsidian, for your tips locally found, or do you have to settle for the white-Quartz crap the poor buggers had to fashion stuff from up here in the Eastern woodlands? All I know is the black Obsidian knaps nicely, the white milky stuff we have here though, is a royal pain, and after seeing what was done with it by the "first Americans" I'm even more impressed with thier skill. It took me a loooong time as a young-un to produce anything close to looking like a sharp edge with a decent tip. Where'as the originals could probably knock one out that was a work of art in less than 20 minutes!!

 

ZZ.

Edited June 23, 2010 by zoomzoom

[Bullethead 12]

Hey Bullet, How's your accuracy with that atl-atl? I hear once you're good, you can get pretty good distance and penetration.

 

I'm nowhere near being able to compete in a WAA meet, but I figure I could survive with one. I usually come within about 1 foot of my point of aim at 25m, so I figure I could kill deer if I had to, maybe even large dogs or coyotes. Likely I'd have to chase down wounded animals but I'd probably get them. I'd be afraid to try it on a wild hog, though. I figure I'd only piss it off and then it would eat me .

 

You using flint/obsidian, for your tips locally found, or do you have to settle for the white-Quartz crap the poor buggers had to fashion stuff from up here in the Eastern woodlands? All I know is the black Obsidian knaps nicely, the white milky stuff we have here though, is a royal pain, and after seeing what was done with it by the "first Americans" I'm even more impressed with thier skill. It took me a loooong time as a young-un to produce anything close to looking like a sharp edge with a decent tip. Where'as the originals could probably knock one out that was a work of art in less than 20 minutes!!

 

Always nice to meet another Paleolithic person :).

 

Because I'm throwing a lot for target practice, I need a point that won't break easily. Thus, right now I'm using socketed copper points. I made these out of thin-walled 1" copper tubing about 2" long. I made the socket by splitting this about 1/2way lengthwise and crushing it in around the shaft with a vise. Then I crushed the other 1/2 of it flat in the vise, hammered it thin, and ground it down to a triangular shape. Then I crimped the edges over themselves to seal up the opening between the 2 faces of the blade. This will go about 2" into an oak tree

 

Down here in Lousy Anna's armpit, it's solid mud all the way down until you get to Hell, where a thin layer of it has been baked to brick just above the fires. The only rock is a light brown flint, but it's all creek pebbles, most of which are too small to use. The local Indians did use it when they found one big enough, but they had to heat treat it first, which turned it a beautiful deep cherry red. Such points are very rare. Almost all points found here are made of rock imported from far away. I figure the yankee Indians came down here for Mardi Gras and paid for their stay with flint . For the most part, however, it seems that the local Indians made due with bone and antler points, or used garfish scales, which are natural arrowheads.

 

In my own knapping, I also have to use imported rock. These days, I work mostly with Georgetown Flint from Texas and various types of obsidian. I've got a gallery of my work here. I get most of my rock from Neolithics.com

[Hasse Wind 46]

A Paleolithic man shouldn't use copper for anything, Bullethead.

 

Those are very nice pics. Now I'm definitely no archaelogist and know very little about Stone Age knives and spearheads and whatnots, but those definitely look pretty nice to me.

 

And it wouldn't be fair to compare these modern items to the ones people made thousands of years ago. They lived in the wilderness and had all the time in the world to hone their skills as weaponmakers. They had to do so, if they wanted to survive as hunter-gatherers. So I don't think there's any need for anybody to feel bad about the items they make as a hobby in modern times.

 

Boy, did we again go off-topic - from fishing to ozone layer to Stone Age weaponmaking.

[zoomzoom 2]

Veeeeeery nice work Bullet. You've obviously been practicing for some time. You are definately at the "artist" level, I'm somewhere around the "it'll make due for now level"! There definately was a trade system of sorts throughout these periods, as you mention, as too much non-indigenous material found its way to other places it shouldn't be if it was otherwise. Your example of foriegn flint types being trafficked is dead on. As I mentioned, we only have the white quartz where I live, and you have to go out West to get into regions where the black obsidian is found. Non-theless, back in my arrowhead hunting days, I managed to find one (the only one I've ever found, and I've found many hundreds) Black Obsidian point in a field we were farming. I'll bet it was prized as a unique and exotic item by whomever got hold of it.....or, it was carried by nomads who moved into the area, and was simply used, and forgotten as they switched over to the local material....that being the very unpleasant to shape and easily fractured White quartzite.

 

ZZ.

 

PS. So are the cherry red "rose" colored tips the local type you mentioned that need to be heated to work? Makes a very pretty finished point. most unique

 

Sorry UK.....we'll stop hijacking!! Hey....maybe some fishing with an atl-atl......added to your repetoire!?

Edited June 23, 2010 by zoomzoom

[Hasse Wind 46]

I wonder how the ozone layer was doing back in the Stone Age. And hey, those "primitives" were pretty good at fishing too, so maybe we aren't that deeply off-topic.

 

Regarding trade in the Stone Age, I've read about some extensive trade routes that existed already back then, thousands of years ago. Stone was definitely one of the things that these traders, uh, traded. Some areas lacked the good stuff while others had it plenty... it's not hard to see where capitalism, that pesky thing, was born. At least they didn't have the stock market in the Neolithic period, nor lawyers and politicians.

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Hunting and Fishing are so closely linked in our past

[NS13Jarhead 6]

Hey Bullet, How's your accuracy with that atl-atl? I hear once you're good, you can get pretty good distance and penetration. You using flint/obsidian, for your tips locally found, or do you have to settle for the white-Quartz crap the poor buggers had to fashion stuff from up here in the Eastern woodlands? All I know is the black Obsidian knaps nicely, the white milky stuff we have here though, is a royal pain, and after seeing what was done with it by the "first Americans" I'm even more impressed with thier skill. It took me a loooong time as a young-un to produce anything close to looking like a sharp edge with a decent tip. Where'as the originals could probably knock one out that was a work of art in less than 20 minutes!!

 

ZZ.

 

You know, it'd go a lot faster if you use a Dremel Tool...

[Bullethead 12]

A Paleolithic man shouldn't use copper for anything, Bullethead.

 

Actually, the use of copper by North American Indians predates agriculture, so there's a case of Paleolithic folks using it. Up around the Great Lakes, there are a number of places where native copper (as in not ore, but the pure stuff) occur on the surface as nuggets, from multi-ton boulders down to gravel-sized things. Apparently the glaciers scraped it out of Canada somewhere and left it behind when they melted. One of the Archaic cultures (as in thousands of years ago, between the Paleoindian mammoth hunters and the Woodlands semi-agriculturalists) in that area is even called the "Coppersmith", because they made copper projectile points (although to suppliment their stone stuff). The idea didn't catch on because few subsequent North American cultures used it as weapons until historical times, when they cut up tea kettles for arrowheads. However, pre-Contact, copper was fairly frequently used as pressure-flaking tool for making stone points, especially for notching them. Everything with very narrow notches was almost certainly done with a copper tool, because antler just won't file down that narrow and retain enough strength to pull a flake off. Needless to say, it seems the Indians around the Great Lakes got rich trading little bits of copper to the other Indians.

 

Check this out: https://www.msu.edu/~oberg/copper/funfacts.html

 

And it wouldn't be fair to compare these modern items to the ones people made thousands of years ago. They lived in the wilderness and had all the time in the world to hone their skills as weaponmakers (underscore added)

 

There's a well-accepted theory (sadly, I can't remember the author or paper, but it came out in 1975) that as civilization has advanced, the amount of free time available to its members has drastically reduced. Think about it. How much time do any of us have to read this forum or play off, what with the constant demands of our surrounding society? But a hunter-gatherer only needed to kill a deer maybe once a week to feed his family. The rest of the time he was kicking back under a shade tree smoking peyote, drinking pulque, and pondering the Great Mysteries. And if he got bored with that, he could indulge his artistic talents in the mediums he was most familiar with.

 

In North America, there's a definite decrease in artistry in flint points over time, probably corresponding to people becoming more settled, their society becoming more complex, etc, so they had less time devote to such things. Plus, other mediums became the outlet for artistic urges . The namesake points of the Clovis and Folsum cultures require much more skill than anything that came later, and most Archaic points are more technically difficult than the later Woodlands points. It eventually reached the stage where the most common points weren't any better than some of my 1st attempts. They certainly would get groceries and kill the enemy, but they weren't something you'd bury with the chief for his use in the afterlife. They still made some very fine points for the latter purpose, but most of them apparently weren't ever used in real life.

Boy, did we again go off-topic - from fishing to ozone layer to Stone Age weaponmaking.

 

Well, I did mention garfish as a source of ready-made arrowheads

 

Veeeeeery nice work Bullet. You've obviously been practicing for some time. You are definately at the "artist" level, I'm somewhere around the "it'll make due for now level"!

 

Thanks, but I'm a total noob with only 1.5 years experience. One of the founding fathers of modern knapping (Steve Behrnes) lives near me, and I'm not worthy to sharpen his pressure flaker. He put 5 kids through school by selling his work for tens of thousands of dollars a piece. He makes stuff you'd bury with the chief of all chiefs. On my good days, I make stuff that you'd bury with a minor noble or hero of purely local renown. Mostly I must make grocery-getters. The most I've ever sold a point for is $50.

 

I managed to find one (the only one I've ever found, and I've found many hundreds) Black Obsidian point in a field we were farming. I'll bet it was prized as a unique and exotic item by whomever got hold of it.....or, it was carried by nomads who moved into the area, and was simply used, and forgotten as they switched over to the local material....that being the very unpleasant to shape and easily fractured White quartzite.

 

That's hugely cool. I've never found any obsidian here, despite the Indians' trade network going down to Mexico where it's as common as dirt. I agree, I'm sure it's last owner was quite proud of it. He probably carried it in his medicine bag for its obviously powerful juju. There are many examples of historic period Indians further west putting truly ancient Clovis and Folsum points in their medicine bags that way.

 

PS. So are the cherry red "rose" colored tips the local type you mentioned that need to be heated to work? Makes a very pretty finished point. most unique

 

The cherry red color is a result of heat treating. The rock starts out as a dull, light brown or tan, which is pretty much unworkable. I've only seen a very few authentic points made out of it and they're all total clunkers, nearly as thick as they are wide. But when you cook it, it turns a deep, dark red, and becomes MUCH more workable, capable of making high-quality thin points. These are more common than the raw variety, but still rare compared to imported rock, due to the rarity of local rocks big enough to be worth the trouble.

Hey....maybe some fishing with an atl-atl......added to your repetoire!?

 

There are quite a few folks who do this. I'd use a toggle harpoon point made of bone.

 

I wonder how the ozone layer was doing back in the Stone Age.

 

Thin enough to melt the glaciers, apparently

At least they didn't have the stock market in the Neolithic period, nor lawyers and politicians.

 

I'm sure they had politicians. Politics are part of any social group. Folks who say they don't play politics instead really just play politics very badly. And politicians are all lawyers, and have always had other lawyers working for them. Even Vikings had lawyers. Not that I'm in favor of either breed. Humanity will never be free until the last lawyer is strangled with the entrails of the last politician. May that day come soon!! .

 

Now, let's get back to fishing

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

If anyone in the UK tried to use a Bow to hunt Carp with, they would be beaten to death with Sticks!

 

Do you fish BH?

Edited June 24, 2010 by UK_Widowmaker

[Olham 164]

The neolithic people were anything but primitive.

They could make decent clothes already, they hand-tooled fine weapons as Bullehead can do so well,

they even had developed medical treatments - who among us (with the exception of Bullethead) could

do such things, and help himself, if lost in a wilderness?

[Mr_Dirt 1]

WM bowfishing for carp is very popular here in Missouri. Carp are considered a rough fish by the conservation department so you can take up to a hundred pounds if you want. I have a friend who has a shooting platform built on the front of his jon boat. They cruise the bays of our lake and watch for carp in the shallows. We use to have an old bridge that crossed a small river we would go out on a hot summer day and bowfish for Gar which would cruise the top of the water looking like submarines. we would hang over the bridge and shoot them as they cruise by. My dad and I spent alot of time fishing for carp. We would use treble hooks and doughballs for bait. Everyone had a recipe for doughballs. Our recipe used wheaties and anise extract. We also used sour corn on a straight hook at times to catch them. We would tight line on the bottom, it took alot of time sometimes. The largest carp I ever caught on rod and reel was 25 pounds. I was around 11 yo at the time it was great fun, I sure miss those day with my dad.

[Hasse Wind 46]

Bullethead, thanks for the link. Some really interesting stuff about copper.

 

Olham, I don't know how to make arrowheads, but I could treat my wounds pretty well, if they weren't anything too serious and I had some needle and thread. But those old medical methods weren't really good at preserving lives compared to modern treatments. It's not that hard to suture a wound, especially if the wound is a neat cut and not very deep, but infections are what kill people. Injured people used to die like flies before medical professionals finally realized the importance of hygiene, and the next dramatic improvement was the introduction of antibiotics.

 

Most people in developed countries don't realize just how fortunate they are to have modern medical treatment available. It wasn't that long ago when diseases and surgical operations we consider simple and mostly harmless were deadly serious. WW1 was really the first major war in history where medical professionals had a good chance of helping even seriously injured people, but even they were often helpless with infections. Getting wounded in a war before the 20th century was not a very good idea.

[Olham 164]

Bullethead, thanks for the link. Some really interesting stuff about copper.

 

Olham, I don't know how to make arrowheads, but I could treat my wounds pretty well, if they weren't anything

too serious and I had some needle and thread.

 

You wouldn't have.

But those old medical methods weren't really good at preserving lives compared to modern treatments.

 

I am quite sure, that they knew more about healing a nasty wound, than we believe to know about them.

Herbs, brews - what do we know? Even head surgery was done to some extent - skulls with holes drilled into them

have been found; and the bone clearly "told" the scientists: this person had lived after the surgery.

WW1 was really the first major war in history where medical professionals had a good chance of helping even seriously injured people,

but even they were often helpless with infections.

 

Sure, but that was mainly because of the conditions, under which you "work" in a war, after a battle,

when hundreds of badly wounded, bleeding, screaming, dying men are thrown before the medic's feet

in a wash of blood and dirt. So I'd rather say: to be in a war is not a good situation.

[zoomzoom 2]

Fascinating info on the indigenous copper Bullet. I'm currently reading John Smith's original accounts of exploration, and its clear that copper was not unknown to the natives, just not very prevalent in the South, obviously much more so where natural ore occured as you point out, clearly around Michigan.

 

As an aside, had a friend who was also into flint knapping and moved out to the western US, where he would scour creek beds for very nice occasional pieces of black obsidian. Lovely stuff, but one day he found an odd looking bit, and decided to work it up into flints for his flintlock instead of arrow points. Another friend of his came over to see him and noticed the pieces he had finished, and almost fell out of his chair, because being a stone expert, he realized he had made gun flints from a very rare and potentially valuable chunk of Jade! Bet they'd make some pretty turkeytails! lol He said they sparked his rifle just fine though.

 

As far as ancient medicine is concerned, yeah , modern medicine's amazing, but then there are drugs all around us and we just don't know it. For instance, my mother whenever she used to get a headache, would strip a bit of bark off of the old weeping willow in the yard and chew it a while. How bizzare a modernist might think. Not really. The weeping willow bears in its bark and outer skin the self same drug that is refined and used in aspirin. Primitives would chew the bark for a quick-light dose, or gather a good bit and render, "boil it down" in a tea for a heavier dose. Who knew!!?? Well..........they did.

 

ZZ.

 

 

PS. U-K, they'd probably look at you funny if you tried this too:

 

 

But you guys probably dont have catfish in England. Personally, I'd pass on Noodling without a chain mail glove....but then sticking my hands up dark holes in river banks under water isn't a practice of mine either!! Who knows what you might pull out!

Edited June 24, 2010 by zoomzoom

[Bullethead 12]

Do you fish BH?

 

Yup, but not as much as I used to. I have a small pond behind my house with lots oif bream and bass in it, and I catch them periodically. Always let them go, however. When I want to eat something, I go down to the Mississippi River with a friend or 2 and we run a trot line for catfish.

 

I also fish for crayfish with a pole instead of a net or trap. Does that count? It's not the most efficient way of doing it but it works, and the time it takes allows for the consumption of many beers .

 

WM bowfishing for carp is very popular here in Missouri. Carp are considered a rough fish by the conservation department so you can take up to a hundred pounds if you want. ... We use to have an old bridge that crossed a small river we would go out on a hot summer day and bowfish for Gar which would cruise the top of the water looking like submarines.

 

Yeah, your part of the world is being overrun with invasive Asian carp wiping out everything else. It's so bad in places that that "River Monsters" show covered them. Huge schools of 10-20# carp all erupting out of the water in panic as a boat goes by, I hear they've killed a number of people that way. Folks get whacked in the head by a heavy fish, fall overboard, and drown. I think in places there are "kill all the carp you want" days to try and thin the herd.

 

I saw in the paper today that they caught one up near Chicago, past the barriers they'd put in place, so now it's only a matter of time before they infest the Great Lakes.

 

But killing gars ain't right, IMHO. They're harmless things that aren't that good to eat for the work it takes to clean them, and they need to reach a certain size before they're useful as a source of arrowheads (but at which point you only need 1 per year tops). Besides, they can get friggin' huge if you let them, and it's cool having fish that big around.

 

Most people in developed countries don't realize just how fortunate they are to have modern medical treatment available. It wasn't that long ago when diseases and surgical operations we consider simple and mostly harmless were deadly serious. WW1 was really the first major war in history where medical professionals had a good chance of helping even seriously injured people, but even they were often helpless with infections. Getting wounded in a war before the 20th century was not a very good idea.

 

Amen to that. Not to mention how dangerous childbirth was just a few generations back. Or how many kids died early. All my grandparents were born about 1900 when it was common to have 8-10 children and expect only 1/2 to 2/3 of them to reach adulthood.

[Bullethead 12]

As far as ancient medicine is concerned, yeah , modern medicine's amazing, but then there are drugs all around us and we just don't know it.

 

The history of medicine can be summarized as follows:

 

Witchdoctor: "Chew this leaf."

Priest (as he burns witchdoctor at the stake): "Chewing a leaf is a pagan practice. Say this prayer instead."

Rennaissance Man: "God helps those who help themselves. Take this alchemical elixir."

Age of Reason Man: "Religion is bunk and that elixir is poison. Your problem is you've got too much blood in you. Let me open your veins."

19th Century Man: "It turns out that you really need blood after all. Try this mix of opium and cocaine."

Early 20th Century Man: "Those drugs just make you a hopless addict. Drink this radium water instead."

Later 20th Century Man: "It turns out radiation is actually bad for you. Take this antibiotic."

21st Century Man: "All germs are now immune to antibiotics. Chew this leaf."

 

But you guys probably dont have catfish in England. Personally, I'd pass on Noodling without a chain mail glove....but then sticking my hands up dark holes in river banks under water isn't a practice of mine either!! Who knows what you might pull out!

 

This is something I'd never do, even with a mail gauntlet. I'm more than happy to watch others do it, however, because I always enjoy it when idiots remove themselves from the gene pool.

[zoomzoom 2]

This is something I'd never do, even with a mail gauntlet. I'm more than happy to watch others do it, however, because I always enjoy it when idiots remove themselves from the gene pool.

 

Amen. Now fishing with dynamite, thats different!! Boom, and you just watch everything in a 10 foot radius float to the top.

 

Well, thats half a stick....full stick is about a 20' radius.

 

ZZ.

Edited June 24, 2010 by zoomzoom

[Bullethead 12]

Amen. Now fishing with dynamite, thats different!! Boom, and you just watch everything in a 10 foot radius float to the top.

 

When I'm REALLY hungry, I use my Russian version of the TA-312 field telephone that I brought home from Kuwait. Stick a couple wires in the water, turn the crank, and instant dinner . My neighbors use a car battery and coil.

 

Around here, come Xmas and 4 July, the fireworks stands sell "Li'l Dynamite". These are firecrackers in a red wrapper that are heavy enough to sink, and they have dynamite fuzes so they'll burn underwater. They come loose in cardboard boxes of 50 (for about $2) instead of twisted into strings like regular firecrackers, because their fuzes are too stiff for that. These are great for getting bait. The fizzing of the fuze is irresistable to minnows and baby bream, and the explosion will float all those within about 1 foot radius. Then just scoop them up and go fishing for what you're really after. This is SO much better than using a cast net, which always gets snagged on sunken branches, and cheaper than buying baitfish at the store. Plus, it's much more fun than either .