How do you organinze your flies?

phiendWMD

phiendWMD

Active member
Joined
Apr 23, 2013
Messages
783
I mean like if you had BWOs from 3 different places, do you keep them separated? Labeled? Just placed together what no regard as to where they are from? I'm starting to get more and more flies from different places and am losing track. Should I give up now or is it better to keep things organized very orderly?
 
A lot of ways to keep organized. With a modest amount of flies try two separate boxes:

"Dries"- Try keeping all dry flies bunched together like BWOs, Hendricksons, Suphurs, etc. Same for caddis tans, black, grannoms, etc. Same for stoneflies. Have a place for generic dries that don't match any specific insect.

"Wets" - Have a nymph box and do the same thing for specific hatches and keep generic flies in there too like HEs, PTs, GWs, etc. You can also keep wets along with buggers and streamers in that box.

 
I have a box of streamers, a box for midges, a box for soft hackles and other wets, and then I have what I call my "operational" box with is filled with the flies I use 90% of the time. Caddis, wulffs, Adams, and then a small assortment of other dries, depending on what hatches I can expect to see (right now I have sulpher, cahills, and some MB thrown in)-those take up the right pannel. The left pannel is filled w/ various nymphs like PT, HE, caddis puppa, etc.

My bass flies are mixed in w/ my streamer box, and my terrestials are mixed in w/ my wets. Meh. Works for me. I at least know where to find stuff. I really don't have a LOT of flies, compared to some of you guys!
 
One go to box, compartments w/ foam in the lid goes in the shirt pocket. Cycle out the dries I expect to need depending on time of year, keep the lid filled with nymphs, wets and a couple streamers. Right now it's got midges, BWO's, sulphurs, some caddis and a few ants/beetles. I don't organize the compartments beyond trying to keep the same sized flies in the same compartments, don't bother keeping comparduns/catskills/parachutes separated for each bug. All the dry BWO's go together, the emergers in another spot for example. Come to think of it, probably don't have them sorted to well by size either, not much difference between an 18 or a 20, I can pick out what I need when I need it...

Keep another similar box in the bag and that's pretty much all I carry on stream.
 
If you're getting flies from multiple sources it may be helpful to try and keep track of where they are coming from. That way you'll know which suppliers flies held up better than others when it comes time to re-order.
 
Yeah they are coming from different places. I guess most of you guys tie your own, and its not really a problem? Don't you ever trade or anything? Maybe something someone else is doing just a little different could make all the difference?

At this point I can still remember which is which since I only have like 35 flies total. But by the fall I'm sure it will be close to too much to keep track of in my head.
 
I have an amazing mismatch of flies from various shops, my own ties, trades, etc. I do group them in the Richardson. I don't separate by tier, but I do separate by type of pattern.

Deep tray (closest to chest) - Big flies on bottom (streamers, big stoneflies, etc.). On lid, half of it is egg patterns, and the other half random attractors. Also, terrestrials.

Middle tray - bottom is all "exact match" dry fly patterns. Grouped by species, and by tie. For instance, in sulphers, there's cut wing thorax's, then parachutes, then comparaduns, then spinners. The lid is assorted PT nymphs on the left. And mostly "small flies" on the right, which includes the very small BWO's, midges, tricos, etc., in all life forms. I have 10-15 parachute Adams' also on the lid.

Outside tray - caddis (all stages). Also scuds, shrimp, and Hare's Ear nymphs.
 
Well after 30 years of fishing, the method that works best for me is I scatter them around in an array of about 5 different fly boxes, then I dig frantically looking for the correct one, as darkness descends and fishing are rising like crazy. Seems to work for me!! :lol: :lol:
 
My only organized box is my winter box which is also basically my midge and nypmph box. I have a large mis matched box of streamers, dries, and various other flies. Eventually I have learned where everything is automatically so I know where to reach in my vest. From there i have an open section in my large box for flies im using that day or whats "hot" for the season. I look at my fly selection as a mile wide, one inch deep.
 
Seriously? Is this a put-on? All my flies are from somewhere, but it don't confront me to remember where.
 
Taking you more seriously-- if you bought a fly at a specific locale and it was so variant and caught so many fish and you can't remember where, then you would surely have more than 35 flies, I think, and a very bad memory. :cool:
 
after suggestions on here i bought some planer tray boxes to store my flies long term, and a labeller -

810VCy8CScL._SL1500_.jpg


the organizer holds 96 dozen flies (ish) .

i now have three boxes on me

generic dry - adams, patriots, wulffs, bombers, caddis, hopper, ants
Hatches - nymphs, emergers, comparaduns, soft hackles, wets;
subsurface - streamers, wets, bh nymphs, weenies, scuds, midges, shrimp.



 
I have some large divider boxes. I have one for caddis, one for spring hatches (hendrickson, blue quill, march browns), one box for summer hatches (sulphur, cahill, trico, iso),one for bulk nymph storage and one for olives and various junk. I think I got the boxes at harbor freight for $3-4 each. Yes, the flies start out the season sorted by pattern & size. I keep a few small boxes in my vest where I rotate flies depending on time of year. Without fail, I take the sulphur box when going trico fishing, march browns when the olives are on and when I do have the correct flies along, I can't find the pattern I'm looking for until I get back to the car. That's fishing.
 
I'm still working this out myself. Right now this is my system:

1 - large plano compartment box for terrestrials, attractors, general/multi-purpose dry flies

1- foam streamer box

2- foam wet/nymph boxes. One has mostly natural/immitative nymphs, soft hackles, and other wet flies. The other has midge nymphs/pupae, attractors (green weenie, etc) and other large nymphs (stoneflies), and "junk" flies - eggs, worms, scuds and sowbugs.

1 - tiny compartment box for midges, tricos, small BWO's (dries)

Multiple - seasonal dry fly boxes. I try to organize these according to when the hatches should come off, and I usualy have one of them on me when I'm fishing.

I generally feel like I'm carrying *way* too many flies on the stream, but for whatever reason I can't stand having nearly everything on me in order to be "prepared." I do like the idea of a "go-to" box though. I may have to work on that... I do usualloy end up just using a handful of patterns anyway.

Oh btw - be careful of storing hackled dry flies in foam boxes - they can flatten the hackles if they're not placed right. I use compartment boxes for dries for that reason.

I never even try to keep track of where my flies came from - it's not worthwhile to me. If something's really interesting or different and I can't find it anywhere else, I make a note of it somewhere.
 
For me over the past thirty years it has been a migration from one box that had it all to the purchase of several boxes that started to accumulate seasonal patterns and flies bought at a certain time. There is no rhyme or reason, just a bunch of drawers in a dresser that I know have the clothes I need to wear sometime. I can pretty much remember what I have to wear and where I put it last I wore it but sometimes I find that old tee-shirt or pair of jeans I thought I lost and it Man it looks good on me.

So I have downsized once again to a W&J sling pack. I am trying to jam 7 boxes in it and a bottle of water and a snickers bar but I have to consolidate. I just can't or I guess won't.

I mean there is the sentimentality of the actual boxes that hold the flies and the tales they have to share every time I open them.

So I guess what I am saying is I don't organize my flies...they organize me.

HTH.
 
Organizing flies is not one of my strong points , they may be unorganized but if i have it and need it it's in there and i will find it. I have a box of nymphs a box of streamers/buggers and a box of Catskill dries from there there are a half dozen boxes of "I know it's in there.
 
I have a box that is mainly nymphs. From there most of the flies I tie end up in pill bottles. :( Not what you may want to hear but I hve become used to have 4 or 5 pill bottles in my vest. They are actually easier to carry that trying to put big fly boxes in your vest.
 
Organizing my fly boxes is like an obsession for me. I just feel like when I need a certain pattern a certain size and certain color I don't want to search for it for an hour and then the hatch is over. My system is simple yet effective (for me). I have several small boxes.

1. BWO/sulphur box - one leaf bwo the other sulphurs, includes rusty and sulphur/bwo spinners.

2. Nymph box

3. Caddis/soft hackle box with one leaf devoted to terrestrials

4. small midge box

5. 1 wheatley style box for bigger hatches that I rotate flies in and out of. Right now it has MB, gray fox, Iso, GDs, a few hendricksons just in case. As the hatches change I rotate flies in and out.

6. streamer box

I also try to separate in each box by size and pattern especially the sulphur/olive box and caddis box.
 
Back
Top