I am just looking for advice and thinking aloud, but what do you guys use to match the hatch? I don’t have a seine, and was thinking about using a net from an aquarium, but the ones I have seen look sort of small. So, I got to wondering what does everyone else use? I have seen all kinds of books on the topic but I don’t have one. Any advice is greatly appreciated. 
thanks in advance,
hNt
Jason;
An aquarium net or a piece of panty hose you can streatch over your net.
your local hardware or home improvement store should have these:
http://www.stonecreekranch.us/ezstrainer.html
Stretch them over your net and they fold up into a neat little package.
I recommend a book/dvd ( make sure you get the dvd) by Rick Hafele called : ‘Nymph Fishing Rivers and Streams’.
Rick is a biologist and dedicated flyfisherman and writes articles for ‘American Angler’. He shows you how to collect nymphs and how/when to fish them.
The dvd is educational and funny; and the book is well worth the price!
If you ‘google’ his name, you should find his website… FWIW.
Just my opinion!
Matter of fact here is what you need if you already have a net:
Hope this helps.
A small aquarium net does just fine either skimming insects off the surface, checking for them down through the water column, or when kicking rocks in the streambed looking for stuff. Light and small enough to carry in a small day pack, or probably inside your shirt for that matter.
You might also want to carry a couple small vials to carry the insects home for closer inspection and future reference.
John
I use an aquarium net, and I just match the insect with a fly that is close in color and size. Other than a few well known hatches I really can’t identify anything, but do OK anyway.
Someone posted some time ago about using paint strainer cloth…it’s shaped so you can fit it over a net.
Correct you are and I am ashamed to say that they gave me the tip and I forgot their name! Not trying to steal anyone’s thunder just getting feeble minded.
You might want to read this. http://colo2.flyanglersonline.com/features/fliesonly/ Section two especially.
When on the water I use a one foot square piece of fiberglass window screen that I keep in my vest.
What JC said…I made a seine out of a 12 X 18-inch piece of window screen fabric. I folded over (with a 1/2-inch wide overlap) each 12-inch edge and stapled each of those edges to a 1/2 wide X 18 inch long dowel with a staple gun and 1/4-inch staples (with one 18-inch edge about even with the ends of the dowels). It gives me about 6 inches of “handle” to hold onto on each dowel. Some guys use longer and thicker doweling, so they don’t have to bend over too much, or get their arms wet when seining near the bottom. I opted for the 18-inch long model for light weight and packability in my vest.
I also carry a smaller version (1/2 X 12-inch dowels and 12 X 6-inch fabric) for capturing those wild, voracious bugs when they’re floatin’ past me right on the surface or in the surface film.
Oh, yes - like JohnScott said… I carry 3 or 4 clear plastic vials with isopropyl alcohol in 'em. I carry a small pair of tweezers to get the specimens from the screening into the vials.
Hope it helps!
Original thread can be found here:
One of the pictures in Section 2 showed me from where Jack Hise got his trout-herding technique.
Ed
I bought a piece of mosquito netting and a dowel. I sewed two pockets, one on each side for the dowel to slip into. It cost about $2.00 and took 10 minutes to make.
jed
Being a gadget fanatic, I bought one of these things years ago (when they were a lot cheaper!).
Just stays attached to your net, and is easy to deploy. I try to open it to dry when I’m done for the day, but have forgotten on a couple of occasions with no ill effects. I like it because I always know where it is, and it doesn’t get in the way. Awful pricey for what it is, but they last a long, long time.
I’ve been quite UNhappy with the slip-on seine for my landing net. They fit very tight which ends up not catching water or bugs well…and it’s a pain to remove from your net when it’s time to land a fish if you didn’t remove it promptly after scooping bugs.
For 89 cents, I found an aquarium net at the pet store…works great.
Spend a couple bugs more and you can get a variety of larger sizes. They have nice dedicated handles that fit in a back pocket, tuck nicely into wader belt, or other convenient places.
I dropped one overboard once and couldn’t get to it for a couple days. By the time I pulled it up (magnet on a kite string), it had collected a half dozen cased caddis in river that I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody suggest using patterns for cased caddis…
I just bought a piece of vinyl mesh at a craft store. I can’t think what it is called but people put thread through it and make pictures. Anyway it is about the size of a piece of paper and cost about $3. There was some that was very stiff that was cheaper, but I got this one because it was limp enough I could fold it up and put it in my pocket. It should work fine, but I haven’t used it yet. I thought it might help someone else so I thought I would post what I found on here. Thanks for all of the help and advice. Now if I could just match the hatch and catch some fish. 
thanks,
hNt
Thank goodness the fish in my home waters don’t “eat” much (Atlantic Salmon).
I often wonder what a #4 Bomber “imitates”?
Oh, … just to get the discussion roaring, … I read somewhere a long time ago, that kicking up the gravel along the stream bed to collect bugs can damage the “bug habitat” ???
Anyone else heard of problems where over zealous anglers “damage” a riffle ???
p.s. … Spring has sprung here !!!
This is a of couple methods we use most:
The top method works great and will collect all kinds of stream bed fauna.
I like the white small net for visual work right on the water.
A small 3’ plastic jar with a white lid is nice to have along too if your premitted to
take samples home.