Device to assist in the throwing of a cast net

A cast net including:

• (a) a piece of net material forming generally a disc-shape when laid out in a planar position;
• (b) a peripheral weight arrangement connected to the net material substantially at the periphery of the net material in the planar position;
• (c) a central net opening through the net material, the central net opening being located at a center of the net material in the planar position;
• (d) a number of drawstrings, each drawstring having a distal end connected to the net material generally at the periphery of the net material laid out in the planar position and extending from the distal end along a first side of the net material to a proximal end passing through the central net opening to the opposite side of the net material, the drawstrings being connected together at their proximal ends and being spaced apart radially about the net material laid out in the planar position;
• and
• (e) a throwing device having a number of drawstring openings, the drawstring openings being spaced apart radially about a center of the throwing device with each drawstring opening having one or more of the drawstrings freely slidable therethrough with the throwing device being otherwise unattached to the net material to enable the throwing device to move free of the net material between a deployed position in which the throwing device is located at the center of the net material laid out in the planar position, and an initial position in which the throwing device is located on the first side of the net material adjacent to the peripheral edge of the net material.

A method of deploying a cast net having a generally disc-shaped net material when laid out in a planar position, a central net opening, and a number of drawstrings extending along a first side of the net material from a weighted peripheral edge of the net material to the central net opening, the method employing a throwing device that is not attached at any point directly to the net material, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) sliding the throwing device along the drawstrings on the first side of the net material to a point at which the throwing device is adjacent to the weighted peripheral edge of the net material so that the weighted peripheral edge of the net material conforms generally to the shape of a peripheral edge of the throwing device;
• (b) imparting a spin to the throwing device and the weighted peripheral edge of the net material about a throwing device center axis extending perpendicular to a plane of the throwing device;
• and
• (c) allowing the drawstrings to slide through radially arranged openings in the throwing device in response to the weighted peripheral edge of the net material expanding outwardly under centrifugal force resulting from the spin.