Can We Talk Photography for a Moment?

I started this blog for a few reasons, one of them being to share all of the photos I take on my fishing, camping, and hiking trips. Since I am beginning to tie my own flies as well, I thought it would be a good way to share photos of the flies themselves, and my progress in tying them. However, over the past few days, I've become increasingly frustrated with my camera.

My Canon camera, taken with my call phone camera.

I own a Canon EOS Rebel T3 DSLR camera. I use the EFS 18-55mm lens that came with the camera. Overall, I love this camera. I get a lot of great shots with it on my trips, and it has also provided the Voss family with our Christmas card photos for the past two years. That said, I can't seem to get a focused, zoomed in picture of a fly to save my life with this camera.

Typical result of using my Canon.

It doesn't seem to matter what setting I have the camera on. I've tried close-up, no flash, full auto, and creative and nothing has helped. I've switched to manual focus and can't get a good, close shot of the fly to show up at all. I've resorted to using my Samsung Galaxy III's built in camera, and honestly, the results have been pretty fair.

Decent pic of a Pheasant-Tail Nymph, taken with my cell phone.

I am able to get a decent amount of detail with my cell phone camera, as disheartening as that is. I do have some issues with the flash being too powerful and killing any of the natural fiber and feather colors on my flies. I've found a solution of using the flash to focus the camera only, and then taking the pictures without flash. While this does correct the color issue, the lack of flash does lead to blurriness.

Cell phone pic, with the flash on. 

My best course of action is probably to bite the bullet and invest in a better lens for my Canon. That, however, would be another large expense for my fly-fishing hobby. Worth it?

If you have any experience shooting flies, let me know what you use, and what kinds of work-arounds you've come up with.

No context. Just an artsy photo of my fly-tying desk I like.