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Taking
a moment or two to seine and evaluate the local bug
life can pay off in two important ways.
First it can help you to
determine what insects reside in that stretch of water,
and secondly it can enable you to see what insects may
be active and available to the fish at that particular
time.
Before you even begin to fish, you should
seine the water, especially if you are fishing
in unfamiliar territory. Place the Quick-Seine into
the water 1 or 2 feet downstream from rocks or a weed bed.
Keep the net suspended above the bottom to avoid
scratching your landing net or damaging your seine net.
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Gently move the rocks,
shake the weed bed
or stir up the bottom so that everything drifts into
the net for observation.
Respect for the
environment should be maintained by not excessively
disturbing the area. You should return all specimens
to the water except the ones that you might want to
retain.
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This simple procedure will introduce you to
the prevailing insect population,
but it may not hold the answers to what the fish are
feeding on at that particular time or day.
In order to determine what fly patterns to select it
would be advantageous for the angler to know what
insects are active and available to the fish at
that particular time. By determining what insects are
free-floating in the current and by noting their
characteristics, we can do a much better job of imitating the size, shape, and color
of the naturals with our artificial flies.
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Before
hatching, insects may begin to stir on the bottom
and become swept into the current. Other insects may
migrate along the bottom and become dislodged. In
addition, some insects are more active during different
times of the day. As a result of all of these factors,
insect activity changes constantly throughout the day.
Taking the "pulse" of the river at various times
throughout the day can pay enormous dividends.
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Position yourself
at a location downstream from the water you're going to
fish, and dip the Quick-Seine a few inches into a slower
current of water. If possible, place your seine in a
fish "feeding lane", a current or strip of water that
transports food to the fish. This lane may be identified
by foam, bubbles and debris on the surface indicating a
food trail underwhich the fish are feeding. If you pay
close attention to the water 2 or 3 feet above the seine,
you may see approaching insects, and you'll be able to
reposition the seine to capture them as they float by.
After about about 30 seconds or so, check the contents
on the seine. To clean off the seine between emersions
or after use, dip the net upside down in the current.
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The fine mesh
seine net was designed to capture even the smallest
insects and the white color was chosen to highlight the
mostly darker insects that you'll encounter.
Based upon the fact that the
holes in the seine net are relatively small, water
pressure in faster currents will sometimes make it
difficult to keep the seine net on over the net.
In that situation, press your thumb over the mesh seine at
the neck of the handle
to keep the seine net tighter over the
frame of the landing net.
You can also hold the seine down firmly on both sides of
the net frame while the net is submerged in faster water.
Also, the seine net can be submerged at different angles
so it skims less water.
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The Quick-Seine
can also be left attached over the frame of your landing
net for intermittent use throughout the day. This will
allow you to check insect activity or conveniently scoop
up any targeted insects that may float by while you are
actively fishing. When your net is needed to land a fish,
simply lift the elasticized seine off the frame. After
that you can replace it over your net or stuff it back
inside its pouch.
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Since most
insects are relatively small, carrying a magnifying
glass to examine them with would be helpful. If you tie
your own flies and would like to examine the insects that
you capture at your tying vise, consider bringing along
some small glass vials in order to store them. You can
purchase a solution from your local fly-shop which will
preserve the insects, otherwise their color will generally
fade quickly when they die.
Due to the fact that
the insects are delicate and fragile, care should be
taken when placing them into vials. Some
anglers will carry small waterproof journals and color
charts to record the original color and characteristics
of the naturals along with other information such as
temperature and weather conditions. Recording these
conditions will help you to better predict the
reoccurrence of hatches and insect activity in the
future.
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The size,
shape, and color of the insects that you capture will be
the most important characteristics that you will imitate
with your artificial fly. Observing the features of the
specimens will also become invaluable to your fly-tying
efforts. When examining specimens you should note the
proportion and tapering of their bodies and thorax areas
as these factors might determine how effective and
lifelike your patterns will be. In most cases, shades of
gray, olive, or brown can be used to match dark colored
insects. The lighter colored insects are best imitated
with tans, light-olives, or yellows. Keep in mind that
the dubbing materials that you use will become darker
once emersed in water so it might be beneficial to wet
the dubbing first before attempting to match the color
of the naturals. The Entomology
section of our Links
page has some excellent overviews of basic trout stream
entomology.
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