Bradenton Native Hand Crafts Fishing Nets From Family Tradition

David Durrance knows nets: cast nets, that is. The Bradenton native has been fishing the waters of the Manatee River and Terra Ceia Bay for more than half a century with cast nets he made by hand, using time-honored techniques passed down by his grandfather. Today, fishing enthusiasts worldwide rely on Durrance’s expertise for durable, high quality, custom-knotted handmade nets.

Durrance established his business, Talon Nets, in 2006 — more than 40 years after he sewed his first net out of nylon twine when he was just 10 years old. As a testament to the quality of his craft, Durrance continues to fish with the net he sewed as a child.

“I’ve been tying knots since I was a kid. I was born into it.” said Durrance. “Growing up, my granddad and my uncle took me out fishing whenever they went and they taught me everything about tying knots, mending nets and how to throw them. My granddad always said there’s no sense in buying something when you can make it yourself and that just stuck with me.”

Durrance took his grandfather’s words to heart, and to this day he sews nets using the same needle his grandfather used more than 50 years ago, as well as handmade hooks and splices.

Durrance said he spent a portion of his adulthood working with captains on commercial fishing boats, during which time he developed his own formula for making nets — combining it with the lessons he learned from his grandfather and uncle in the 1960s.

“Working on rigs like that, they give you a net and you have to fish with it regardless of whether it’s a good net or a bad one,” Durrance said of his time on commercial fishing boats. “When I was working with and mending those nets, I learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t, so I combined that with what my grandfather and uncle taught me to come up with my own method.”

For each net, he works out the mathematics and draws up a blueprint before he sets to work cutting and sewing.

“A carpenter doesn’t make a house without a blueprint, so I don’t make a net without a blueprint,” Durrance said.

At Talon Nets, Durrance sews nets made from nylon twine or monofilament, depending on the customer’s preference. His six panel monofilament nets take approximately 20 hours to put together and cost $17 per foot. Alternatively, an eight-foot nylon twine net takes more than 200 hours to complete and costs $50 per foot.

“Most people prefer monofilament nets because they clear faster. Nylon really tangles up the fish and it takes quite a bit more time to get them out, so a lot of people don’t have the patience. I actually prefer them because you can catch more fish and the quality is unbeatable,” Durrance said with a nod to his own decades-old nylon net.

Currently, his customer base extends as far as Hawaii, Australia and Greece, where fishers have come across the Talon Nets website and requested their own handmade net.

Those seeking bait nets, however, will not find what they are looking for at Talon Nets. Durrance prefers to work with mesh that is 2” or larger.

“When people come to me asking for a bait net, I tell them ‘Leave the bait alone and get a net big enough to catch a fish that you can fry and eat,’” he said.

In local waters, Durrance said that cast net fishing is most effective for redfish and mullet. And because many people consider mullet “trash fish,” the Talon Nets website includes 30 recipes. In addition to mullet recipes, the website contains updated tide charts for local waters, making it a fantastic resource for Gulf Coast fishing enthusiasts.

Talon Nets is a sponsor for the annual Ben Gullet Mullet Invitational Fishing Tournament in Cortez as well as the annual Terra Ceia Island Mullet Smoke -Off cast net throwing competition. For both events, Durrance donates a Talon Net cast net as a contest prize.

Ultimately, Durrance hopes that he can help people understand that cast net fishing is a humane and effective fishing option.

“I grew up learning how to throw a net to catch grapefruits my buddy’s dad would roll across the yard, and I was a teenager before I even realized people fished with poles,” Durrance recalled.

“Personally, I think [cast netting] is a more humane way of fishing than pole fishing. I can stand inside a mangrove and wait until I see a school of redfish, and then I can net them all with one cast, and then I can pick the one I want to keep and let the rest go. I’ve never killed a fish in my net unless it was going in my cooler, but I’ve seen countless rod and reel fish released after swallowing a hook — and there’s no way they’ll survive that,” Durrance said.

Talon Nets are available by order online. For more information, contact David Durrance at talonnets@hotmail.com or call 941-722-1085.