Seine

[Strike]

I have a question for you guys:
Do you bring a Seine every time you hit the river? And if so....How many times do you sample the water? Does anyone have that "Quick Seine" or do you make your own out of stuff from Home Depot? What is your opinion about using a seine and do any of you incorporate anything you find in your Tying? (if so then what?)


Thanks!

[jdubya]

if I am smart. Sometimes I outsmart myself and go fishless for a while before pulling out my net. All it takes is a 4 by 6 inch aquarium net. I use one with a metal handle I can easily bend back and forth to extend or fold into my vest. It goes in my big pocket in the back of my vest 'cause I really only need to get at it once or maybe twice a trip.

It is invaluable to know what is out and about before tying on, not after. Just lean downstream, kick up some gunk from the bottom, and read the net. Then what I do is fill a small glass vial with water and pick into it the animal life in the net. That bottle goes home to get pickled with ethanol and then lives on my tying desk for models to copy.

[Strike]

That sounds like a really good idea for a seine. Where do you get those small glass jars? Do you typically find the same aquatic life throughout the day, or do you see different stuff popping up at different times? Like I said, I am a novice F fisher so sorry if these are dumb questions. Thanks!

[jim m.]

I made a great seine out of this stuff called ?roul? (sp?). It?s the stuff that they make wedding veils out off and it?s very cheap per yard. I laid my net on it and traced the outline. Fold over and hot glue the traced mark. Let it cool and trim the excess and you have a slip over the net seine that will crumple down to fit in one of your smaller vest pockets. I like a lot of surface area for a kick net. You get more bugs to look at and the white really makes the bugs stand out.
Have fun.

[Don]

I have used a couple of different types of Seine Nets. The first was a my "home depot special" which was mesh screen on wood dowls. This worked great and I could get a good samples. The only problem is I would hook it from the back of my vest and it would tangle with my net some times.

I also purchased an aquariam net for a around a buck. This worked great for cathing insects, not only in the water but also I could even snag a couple in the air. It fit in my vest but I felt like I couldn't get a large enough sample to get a good idea of what was really in the water.

About 4 months ago I purchased the Qick Seine for around $20 bucks, and it's been worth every penny. It's simple and fits around my net, this makes it larger than the aquariam net and easier to check deeper water. It's white which gives good contrast and makes the bugs easier to see. I can also leave it around my net, for later use and it's out of the way.

Different types of insects prefer different types of water. Plus, different insects get more active at different times of the day. Some days knowing the which insect is more active or what size those insects are makes all the difference in catching fish or just practicing your casting.

The best time to have a seine is when your fishing and the fish are rising all around and you see caddis are on the surface but when you seine you find out they are acctually taking mayfly spinners, or some sort of emerger.

For those that are newer to ffishing or getting into fly tying, take along a seine and you'll be amazed, plus you'll catch more fish.

[Mike]

If you're really interested in what's going on in a river, a seine is a must. If I'm not catching fish, I'll take mine out and see if I can determine what's going on! There are a number of different tools to get samples out of a stream, all of which have different strengths and weaknesses. I always carry around a tiny seine in my vest. It's about 7 inches long or so with a small flexible mesh that's easy to roll up and fits in my vest with no problem. It's good for getting samples off the bottom of shallow water, but isn't really very effective for taking surface samples I've found. Of course then there's the old kick net. Jason made one out of some fat dowels and some screen door or something. You can just about dredge anything out of the river with it! It's also big enough that you can take a sample out of just about any portion of water without getting too wet. Of course you're left carrying it around or leaning it against a tree when you're done using it. I also have a Quick Seine. It's pretty handy since it sits on your net all of the time and is easy to access. It's kind of cool that it converts your existing net into a seine. Also, it works quite well for taking stuff off the surface of the water. The only downside to those in my experience is their cost is a bit more than a "traditional" seine and they do not function particularly well in swifter water.

[Light Cahill]

I've always just turned over a rock or two and carefully replaced it, to see what sort of creepy-crawlies inhabit a particular portion of the river. This helped my selection of flies, and resulted in more success once I started using it. Seining the water sounds like an even more effective method. Thanks for the tips everyone.

[Conehead]

I always try to sample the water. As an example, on the Middle Provo, one day the fish were rising all around me. I have always caught fish with a BWO emerger, or spinner; so I figured that I knew what was going on. I put down all the fish around me without so much as a looksie. Finally, I got smart and pulled out my net. There were b-zillions of tan-colored midges hatching, and they were in the surface film. I changed to a tan WD-40, and guess what started to happen? It was great.

Another reason that I like to sample the water is the fact that I am an amatuer entymologist. Seeing what goes on in the river on all levels of detail is very satisfying to me.

[Mike]

One thing to note... Turning over rocks works well for seeing what's generally *in* the water during a given season, but not always what's drifting down the actual stream. A seine can be used to check what's on the bottom -- it's sort of the equivalent of turning over about 10 rocks! The general technique to take a sample is to stand upstream of your net and scuff up the bottom with your feet. This will dislodge a bunch of stuff and get it into your seine. If you want to see what's drifting in the current, obviously you just stick your seine in and leave it there (at different levels in the water column!) and see what gets collected.

[ollie]

For those of you who don't want to drop $20 on a seine, just grab a pair of your wife/girlfriend/mother's nylons (panyhose). Call me stupid, but it's what I use and it's worked just fine. I just wrap it around my net and stick it in the river and it works great. You'll probalby look a little stupid pulling a pair of pantyhose out of your fly vest, and you might give some fellow flyfishermen the creeps, but you'll save yourself $20!

[Crosby]

The home depot idea works---- use mine frequently---- don't carry in with me on the river though-- but I try and spend sometime observing what is going on b4 I ever start fishing and seine for a second. The one thing that I have noticed lately from seining is that the Sculpins seem to be coming back in a few places that they had declined.

[Light Cahill]

You actually catch a sculpin or two when you seine?

[Strike]

Hey that is a really good idea. Now I just have to find out where my wife keeps hers and steal them with out her knowing. Thanks for all your input guys!

[Crosby]

Light Cahill: You can get as many sculpins with a seine as you would like. Trouble is you can pretty much wipe out an area over a period of time if you are seining them for bait. Sculpins are pretty territorial.

[Light Cahill]

Sculpins love fly fishermen! We make little mannaquins of them, and sometimes remove a big mean brown trout that devours memebers of their community. You're right about them being territorial though. I once tried to wade through the shallows on the Ogden and a gang of sculpins surrounded me, and asked me if I had any change. I told them that everyone could do with a little change in their lives and booked it out of there!

Seriously though, which pattern and size best imitates sculpins in Utah waters do you think? Brown Wooly Bugger #10? Muddler Minnow #12?

[Crosby]

I tie my own version of the muddler--- just a little more beef to it is all----- I fish muddlers from #14 down to a #2.
But as far as a streamer goes. I fish dumbell eyed- sometimes mylar body or gold and maribou of black or green.