reviews

Quick-Seine

Reviewed by Scott Richmond

Quick-Seine. $19.95 or $22.95 retail, depending on size. Available at many fly shops and online. You can order direct from Angling Designs

rout spend a lot of time eating drifting insects, and trout anglers spend a lot of time trying to pick a fly that mimics those drifting insects.

But to find out what's in the water you need to snare a few natural insects and take a close look at them. Sometimes that's trickier than catching a trout.

Angling Designs of Denver, Colorado, has a product that attempts to make life a little easier for hatch-matchers. The Quick-Seine attaches to a landing net and makes a seine that you can use to sift the water for bugs. The seine stores in a pouch that slips over the handle of a landing net. Open the pouch, pull out the seine, stretch it over the net's frame, and viola! you have a bug catcher. The pouch is breathable, so the seine dries quickly even when it's stored.

I used the Quick-Seine (large size) on a recent trip to Washington's Yakima River. I stuck it underwater in a riffle and kicked up some rocks. A few stoneflies and clinger mayfly nymphs were on the seine when I pulled it up. Later, when the March browns were hatching, I reached out and snagged a few from the surface so I could check their size and color against the flies in my box. Unfortunately the trout didn't care diddly-squat about the March browns that day, but I can't blame that on the Quick-Seine. If they'd been rising, I'd have picked the right fly.

The Quick-Seine is a useful tool for any angler who carries a net. Insects show up well on the white surface, and it certainly is convenient: you can convert your net to a seine, then quickly convert it back to a landing net again in just a few seconds. Also, having the seine on the net handle frees up space in your vest.

On the other hand, if you don't carry a landing net (I usually don't), the Quick-Seine isn't going to help you much. And if you carry a net and collect nymphs off the bottom, you're going to ding up the net frame on the rocks. Note that this latter issue is not a defect of the Quick-Seine; anytime you stick something in the river bottom and start kicking up rocks, you're going to do some damage. You're also going to wear out the seine where it fits over the frame.

One thing I had trouble with was the elastic that holds the seine over the net frame: in heavy currents, the elastic wasn't strong enough to keep the seine on the frame. Unless I held my thumb over the seine next to the net handle, the seine would pop off and be useless. There is no easy solution for this problem. A drawstring would solve it, but that would make the Quick-Seine too bulky to fit its pouch. A piece of Velcro might help; it would do the same thing as my thumb.

The Quick-Seine has been available since 1996, when it was named one of the top ten new products at the Fly Tackle Dealers Show. The regular size fits nets up to 9 x 13 and retails at $19.95. The large size costs $22.95 and fits nets up to 10.5 x 18.5. The Quick-Seine has an unconditional guarantee; if you are dissatisfied with it, return it for a full refund (less shipping) within 60 days.

Bottom Line: Handy accessory if you carry a net and want to seine the river for insects.  Reviewer Rating: 3

Scott Richmond is Westfly's creator and Executive Director. He is the author of eight books on Oregon fly fishing, including Fishing Oregon's Deschutes River (second edition).

Uploaded 04/28/2002.

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The Quick-Seine stored in its pounch on the net handle.

Quick-Seine stretched over the net for collecting.

A golden stonefly nymphs sits on the Quick-Seine after it's been used in a riffle.