Cheap Item to Help Increase your Success When Fishing Dry Flies

One day early this summer, I was fishing a riffle where a side channel flowed back into the main channel of the St. Joe River.  There was a hatch of Pale Morning Duns rising off the water, flying around in the air and fish were rolling.  I tied on my closest match to the size and color of the PMDs that were flying and began to fish.  Cast after cast, no strikes.  Fish were actually taking bugs off the surface within a foot or two of my fly, but absolutely no interest in mine.  I tried several different variations with the same result.  When I was tying on yet another fly to try and match the PMD's in the air, I noticed a bug drifting by on the water.  It was not a PMD, it was darker and larger.  I tried to scoop one up in my hand, but in the moving water it was difficult.   It took me about 5 minutes to finally get one that I could inspect.  It turned out to be a slightly larger Blue Winged Olive spinner, much darker in color.  Once I was aware of this, I tied on a BWO pattern of the same size. and I hooked up with a 12 inch cutthroat on the very first cast, and proceeded to catch about 8 more fish before the action dried up.

Maybe this is common knowledge to some, but for me this was a learning experience.  First, it does not matter what bugs are in the air, it matters what bugs are on the water.  The second thing I realized is that I needed a much better way to catch the little buggers as they drifted by.  The next day I went to the local pet store and bought a small fishnet for aquariums, like this one.

I cut the handle down, and put it in my fly vest.  Over the next few weeks while fishing, I noticed bugs drifting by in the current, and with the help of this little net I was able to scoop them up on the first try to get a closer look at them.  I can now catch the bug and match a pattern to it much quicker and easier, and believe it has improved my hook up rate.  For about $3.00, this little item has shown its value multiple times.