Many natural predators including man hunt fish. Although some persons hunt fish for sport, most of these natural predators hunt fish for food. Thus, if the predators catch the fish, the fish are likely to be eaten. Therefore, to be caught by a predator means almost certain death for fish. However, fish have a self-preservation instinct that helps them to intuitively avoid being caught and thus to avoid being killed. The self-preservation instinct of fish makes the fish cautious of unfamiliar objects because these objects may be an indication of a predator or other dangerous situations.
However, fish cannot totally avoid contact with all unfamiliar objects. Like the predators that hunt the fish, the fish must also eat to survive. Thus, the same survival instinct which causes the fish to avoid unfamiliar objects which might be predators, also drives the fish to hunt food to survive. Nonetheless, in their search for food, fish are hesitant to approach unfamiliar objects which may be hungry predators, but will approach familiar objects which they have come to associate with food. For this reason, fish become accustomed to the particular varieties of foods that are naturally occurring in their habitat at any particular time. These food varieties may include both plants and insects that the fish repeatedly come in contact with in the body of water where they live. These plants and insects may either grow and live in the body of water with the fish or the plants and insects fall into the body of water where the fish can find them. For instance, the food varieties may be plankton or other fish, both of which grow and live in the water. Or the food may be a turn or a deer fly, both of which grow and live out of the water but which occasionally fall into the water.
Over time fish become accustomed to changes in their habitat. As a result, objects which are initially unfamiliar to the fish gradually become more familiar as the fish become accustomed to the presence of the objects. Therefore, fish will eventually approach objects which were once unfamiliar. If a new type of food is introduced, the fish will avoid the new food at first, but over time will become accustomed to the presence of the food. As the fish become accustomed to the presence of the new food type, they will eventually approach it, they will recognize the new food type as food, and they will ultimately eat the new food type. Thus, the fish will eventually eat a new food which was initially unfamiliar to them. If a new but similar piece of food is introduced into the habitat and the fish recognize the food as something they ate before without anything unpleasant happening to them, the fish will approach the food more readily than when they encountered that type of food for the first time. Therefore, fish will more readily approach and eat objects which they recognize as food and will avoid objects which they are unfamiliar with.
In most places on Earth, the naturally occurring food types change throughout the year due to seasonal changes in the environment. For instance, throughout most of the United States, flies are abundant in the summer months but are rare in the winter months. Further, flies change throughout the year between various developmental stages. Taking for example the mayfly which is one of the main staples of the trout diet in the Eastern United States, the life cycle of the mayfly begins with an egg at the bottom of a pond or stream. The egg becomes a nymph which remains at the bottom of the water for about one year until it rises to the surface of the water. As the nymph rises, the outer skin of the nymph splits and an adult mayfly hatches from the skin. The adult floats on the surface of the water until its wings spread and dry. Once its wings are dry, the mayfly will take flight and leave the water where it was born, but will eventually return to water to lay eggs to begin the life cycle again. As a result of this life cycle, flies are present in various developmental stages in lakes, ponds, rivers and streams.
Therefore, the fish living in those lakes, ponds, rivers and streams become accustomed to flies in particular developmental stages floating by them in the summer months when the flies are abundant and grow unaccustomed to flies in the winter months when the flies are rare. If a fly is introduced into the habitat of a fish during the summer and the fly is in an appropriate developmental stage, the fish is likely to recognize and eat the fly. However, if a fly is introduced into the same habitat during the winter, the fish is likely to ignore or even avoid the fly because it unaccustomed to having it present during this season. Each spring, the fish reacquaint themselves to the flies and come to associate the flies with food. Further, as flies become abundant in each developmental stage, the fish again reacquaint themselves to the particular developmental stage. Because fish are seasonally accustomed and unaccustomed to particular food types, they will readily eat some food types in the summer months but avoid them in the winter months and vice versa. These habits are further complicated by the fact that at any one time, several different orders of insects in several different developmental stages may be present. Of these various orders and stages, the fish may have a preference for one or more kinds. Further, the available orders and stages change throughout the year and thus the fish change their preferred food throughout the year.
Fishing enthusiasts are aware of these changing habits of fish, as well as, the self preservation instincts of the fish which cause the fish to avoid unfamiliar objects. In order to combat these habits and instincts, the fishing enthusiasts use baits which replicate the natural occurring food of the fish. The foods which these baits replicate include many varieties of plant and insect life. For instance, many fishing enthusiasts use other fish such as minnows as bait to catch fish. Other fishing enthusiasts use artificial lures which replicate worms or small bait fish. Still other fishing enthusiasts use artificial lures which replicate various insects to attract the attention of the fish and cause them to strike the enthusiast's hook. Because many of the artificial lures used by this latter type of fishing enthusiast replicate various varieties of insects commonly referred to as flies, the lures used by this latter type of enthusiast have come to be known as flies. Likewise, this type of fishing enthusiast has come to be known as a fly fishing enthusiast and the sport which the enthusiasts practice has come to be known as fly fishing.
Fly fishing lures are made in many different sizes, shapes and colors to represent many different types of insects which are typically eaten by fish. In addition, the lures are made to represent different types of insects at different developmental stages of life. Thus, there is a large variety of lures to chose from and on any particular fishing trip fly fishing enthusiasts may carry many different lures to represent various insects at several developmental stages. Because the naturally occurring foods differ from location to location and from time to time and because fish will avoid unfamiliar objects, fly fishing enthusiasts attempt to pick a particular lure from their stock of lures which closely resembles the naturally occurring varieties of food in the area at the time so that the fish will not hesitate to approach the lure and eat it. In order to match their lure to the naturally occurring foods, the fishing enthusiasts must determine which varieties of food are naturally occurring at the particular time.
Several methods are available for determining the naturally occurring foods in the area at the particular time. Although a fly fishing enthusiast could randomly choose a fly from his or her stock in order to choose the lure which most closely resembles a naturally occurring food, this generally proves ineffective because in order to find a fly which the fish will strike, the enthusiast has to try each fly in turn until a fly is chosen which results in the enthusiast catching a fish. Further, even if the correct fly is randomly chosen, there is no guarantee that the fly will work at the particular time it is used. Thus, the correct fly may be used and rejected for a less effective lure. Alternatively, the fishing enthusiast might rely upon experience and chose a fly which has worked in the past. However, as the enthusiast travels from place to place or as the seasons change, the fish might begin to avoid the lure which previously worked. Thus, experience is not always the best guide when choosing a fly from the stock. Instead, experience has taught that the best way to chose a fly is to observe the naturally occurring insects in the area and particularly those which are floating in the water being fished and to choose a fly which most closely resembles the naturally occurring insects.
To observe the types of insects falling into the water, fishing enthusiasts can simply note what types of insects which are floating by. However, due to the swiftness of the current and the size and color of the insects, the insects may be difficult to see. In addition, insects floating below the surface may also be difficult to observe. Thus, fishing enthusiasts frequently use nets to collect insect specimens as they float by.
There are several different types of nets in the prior art which may be used for collecting insects and other specimens. A common feature among each of these prior art nets is that they have a fine mesh so that small insects will not pass through the mesh, but instead will be captured within the mesh. Another common feature among the prior art nets is that they use some form of rigid structure surrounding the mesh to hold the mouth of the net open so that a larger number of insects will be collected. However, these prior art nets have drawbacks which make them undesirable when compared with the net of the present invention.
One variety of prior art net is a hand-held net. These nets have a fine mesh surrounded by a rigid frame which maintains the mouth of the net in an open condition, ready for the collection of insects and other specimens. A handle for holding the net is attached to the frame. Although other materials are used, the frames and handles are frequently crafted from metal tubes or barstock. However, the fact that these hand-held nets must be attended during use is the source of a significant disadvantage in that valuable fishing time is lost because the nets must be held in the water with one hand. Since two hands are typically required to fly fish, the fishing enthusiast cannot fish while collecting specimens using a hand-held net.
Another type of prior art net is less frequently used by fishing enthusiasts, but is frequently used by biologists for plankton collection. These plankton nets are made similarly to the hand-held nets except that a bridle is used in place of the handle. The nets are allowed to trail downstream at the end of the bridle. However, because the frames are typically made of metal, the nets are not buoyant, and thus will sink if not used in a swift current or dragged through the water at a high speed. Nonetheless, in a swift current, the nets will trail downstream beneath the surface of the water. This mode of operation highlights a principle disadvantage in collecting insects with the plankton nets. Because insects generally float at or just below the surface of the water, a net suspended well below the surface will not collect many insect specimens. Thus, the plankton collection nets are not well-suited for use by fishing enthusiasts. Further, because fly fishing enthusiasts also fish in ponds and lakes where there is no significant current, the plankton collection nets are difficult to use.
Other types of prior art nets share the problems outlined above when used by fishing enthusiasts for collecting insects. Either the nets require the use of a hand thereby precluding fishing or the nets do not float at the appropriate level within the water to collect insect specimens. However, the inventor has succeeded in inventing a new type of specimen collection net which solves these problems inherent in the prior art nets.