The frame serves as a place to attach the netting. The netting material can be plastic coated welded wire, galvanized wire, solid plastic mesh, or nylon netting. The advantage of a hard cage is predator exclusion. It excludes predators like turtles, otters, and birds. However, the hard cage is difficult to maneuver, harvest, transport, and store.
Soft cages are easy to transport and harvest.
However predators like minks, otters, and snapping turtles may be able to chew through the soft cages. Cage Materials Frame Plastic mesh or netting Feeding ring Lid Flotation A feeding ring is used to prevent floating fish food from passing through the cage. The lid for the cage can be constructed from the same type of netting as the rest of the cage. The advantage of constructing the lid from netting is that feeding is made easier because the feed is thrown directly into the cage without removing the lid. Flotation is necessary to maintain the top of the cage just above the water surface.