Description
The trammel net was actually two or three nets combined in layers, usually a small-mesh inner net sandwiched between two nets of looser mesh.
Usage
Similar to the dragnet, the trammel net was set out vertically in the water, held in place by floats on the surface of the water and weighted down by a single weighted rope at the bottom. Fish swam through the outer layer and into the fine-mesh net (1), pushing it through the other layer of loose mesh (2). This caught the fish in a kind of pocket from which they could not return (3). Unlike the dragnet, which was drawn in immediately after it was spread out, the trammel net was left in place for several hours to give time for fish to accumulate in it.
Translation
The Hebrew words matsod and mtsodah probably refer to “net” in a generic sense, whether for fishing or for hunting.
In MAT 4:20; MAT 4:21; MRK 1:18; MRK 1:19; and LUK 5:2; LUK 5:4; LUK 5:5; LUK 5:6, it is possible that the Greek word diktuon refers to the dragnet (1.3.1.2), although the plural “nets” makes it likely that a trammel net is meant since it alone was made up of multiple nets. A generic term for “net” may be used in languages that do not require that a distinction be made.