Organization

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Rbull

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Dec 27, 2006
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Now that ive got quite a few flies, I'm trying to figure out how to organize them. How do you do it? I started to do it tonight and ended up with catagories and sub catagories. Its a mess. I'm sure theres an easier way. Thanks
 
That is a question that has as many answers as it does the people you ask.

Here is how I do it. I have four holders. Two medium boxes with Ripple/Ripple and Ripple Flat foam.
Box 1, Mayfly, Caddis and Stonefly Dries on the right, Nymphs on the Left
2. Steelhead flies on the left, Wholly Buggers onthe right.
3. Streamer wallet, With streamers of course
4. Small Fly Box, Terrestrials onthe left, Midges and small flies (18 and up)on the right.

I keep all my flies for the whole year on me at all times..kinda stupid I know but I never forget to bring a box this way. I know guys who have nine boxes and decide which ones to take before walking from the car. Often times you hear, I forgot my drakes...or something like that.

I keep 3-6 of the patterns I like to use figuring I won't need more than that. When I am going to fish over a hatch, I tie the day or a few days before the flies I plan to need. Often times I don't get into them.

I also keep a plano box in my gear bag with my extra flies to pick from and replenish my boxes before a trip if I think about it.

During down times in winter I tie staple flies like Wooly Buggers, Hares Ears, Weenies, SJ worms, PT's and Caddis larvae to fill the surplus box. I figure if I got lots of these, I can tie for hatches when the time comes. If I miss a hatch, I didn't tie in vane.

Plus, tying the night before a trip gets me excited about the fishing. To me thats half the fun of it...

Fish on

Maurice
 
I have a box of dries, a box of nymphs, a box of streamers/buggers, and a box split between egg/steelhead flies and terrrestrials.

Like Maurice, I like to have all my options open when on the stream.
 
I have a richardson chest box (it's a big green flybox), and I just throw everything into it more or less randomly. Big flies go in the back, because they fit there. Attractors go in the front. Match the hatch stuff in the middle, and that where the real chaos is.

The lack of organization is in no way a reflection of the chest box, which is a good product. It is a reflection of my haphazard approach to all things.
 
Rbull:

Fly organization can be a dangerous thing if you encounter a freak midmorning Hex hatch, Tricos on a stream not known for them or a host of other situations with a predictability factor as reliable as weather forecasting.

Like Padraic I also use a Richardson Box that I modified to have swappable trays. That basically puts me in a similar situation to a guy toting separate fly boxes in a vest or pack. I am more of a dry fly guy so the swapping is more about dries but here is how I’m set up:

*One tray (or box in your case) is all nymphs/streamers/emergers and stuff that sinks. I do swap certain items in this tray but you could accomplish the same with a C&F type box. I carry this tray all year long.

*Two other trays are stuff that is needed all season like BWO, caddis, terrestrials, midges, attractors. I also have these trays all season long.

*When needed I add season specific trays that cover other flies which are grouped by season: early, mid and late season hatches.

The reality is where I fish most; three trays will cover 99% of my needs most of the year. I guess if I was still doing the vest thing I could get by with three boxes most of the year and one box that was added as the seasons changed.

Find a way that works for you but having the right fly WHEN YOU NEED IT is more important than having the right system; that’s why I trashed most of my “organization” attempts and settled on a time of year system. Methods that failed for me were: sorting by size, (ran out of compartments), sorting by life stage, (ran out of compartments), sorting by hatch, (ran out of trays), sorting by stream, (ran out of patience), sorting by color, (ran out of money).

Have fun!
 
If you don't manage to achieve organization, don't fret too much. My fly boxes are complete chaos. But I still manage to catch a trout now and again. Once I ran into a REALLY good flyfisher, probably one of the best in PA, on a stream and was asking him what flies he uses for the Grannom hatch. He graciously started pulling out his boxes, looking for his Grannom patterns. And what a mess! I thought my fly boxes were bad, but he just had fly boxes stuffed, just wadded with flies in no order at all. But I've seen this guy to nymphing demonstrations and he can catch trout nearly at will. He's a magician at catching trout. But any neatnick would cry to see his fly boxes.
 
All my flies got stolen so I have to replace them all... figured I would try to do it better this time so....

I'm in the process of a re-org as we speak. As of now I have three wallet sized boxes to work with... half ripple foam, half flat foam. As of now, I tie and put them all in a big plano box, and as I figure this all out, I move them to the small boxes.

Here's the plan:
box 1:
ripple- ants, beetles, globugs, nymphs, weenies, sunken midge larva (zebra midges... lots of them), caddis larva.
flat- buggers, zonkers, matukas, sjw

box 2:
ripple - nymphs, attractor dries
flat- buggers, zonkers, matukas, sjw

box 3:
ripple - cahills, sulphurs, BWO... hatch matchers and midges
flat - caddis dries.
 
One large box with bugger and streamers on left and nymphs on the right

One medium box has nothing but caddis..pupa larvae dries and emergers

One large box for all my mayflies

one smaller box for all my terrestrials.

two tiny boxes...one for midges and ants and one for tiny bead head patterns

All fit in my chest/fanny pack.
 
I carry 3 boxes with me at all times, usually takes care of all my needs. I carry ALOT more in my bag in the car!

Paul
 
scientific angler system X boxes are great. You can buy different inserts and change them out as necessary with each trip. I carry three full ones on me at all times and that pretty much covers everything.
 
Last time I did this, people felt so sorry for me they sent me flies in the mail, so I'm trying it again. PM me for my address:

FLYBOXES.JPG


PS this was the state of my boxes in around August, I think. I swap out flies in the compartments of the plastic boxes. The underwater fly box is always the same, though if I am going to Erie in the winter, the selction of eggs and streamers may change.

I could offer $5 to anyone who finds two identical flies in any of my boxes at the same time and I'd never go broke. The only time that is likely to happen is if I've just made a purchase of flies, in which case, you may find a pair or possibly 3 identical flies in there.
 
lol jack. I have about 600 different nymphs as well.... the problem is that I only really tie PT and HE and the occasional copper john/zugbug.

oh well, hopefully i'll be able to standardize the process eventually.
 
I am organized similar to Maurice. I carry 4 fly boxes with me at all times. Two boxes are swing leaf, so essentially it’s like carrying six fly boxes. I took count, and I found that I carry 1000 +/- flies with me at all times. The truth is I probably only fish with less than a dozen different patterns 80% of the time! My boxes are organized in this way:

Two boxes for dry flies. Note: ripple foam is best for dry flies because it allows more room for the hackle without crushing it. Of the two boxes, one has mayfly dries only. The flies in the box are organized by species – BWOs, Hendricksons, Sulphers, etc. One area has attractors.

The second box has all caddis and stonefly dries separated by species.

The third box has all wet flies, nymphs, etc. Flat foam is okay for them, you can pack more in flies in since you are not worried about crushing the hackle. One side has MF nymphs / next side emergers and wets / midges / junk flies (SJ worms, green weenies, egg flies, etc.)

The next box has caddis larva & pupa / stonefly nymphs / terrestrials / streamers & buggers.



My suggestion for you just starting out is to have use two or three fly boxes, depending on how many flies you have:

1st box – All dry flies – separate by mayfly caddis, stonefly, attractor, terrestrial (ripple / ripple foam)

2nd box – All nymphs / wets / pupa - separate by mayfly caddis, stonefly, junk/attractors (flat / flat foam)

3rd box – Streamers / buggers etc. – (flat / flat foam).. They take up the most room. You can eliminate the third box and put your streamers and buggers with your nymphs and wets.

With this set up, when you’re on the stream, and want to fish on top, all you dry flies, separated by type, are in front of you in one box. When you want to fish below the surface, all your nymphs and wet flies are together one box.

I don’t believe you need more than the $10 plastic fly boxes with foam. The C&F slit foam waterproof boxes are great, but I can’t see spending $40 for a fly box.



Two useful tips:

I put a label on the top of each box to ID it when it’s sitting in the pocket of my vest – Dry MF, Dry Caddis/ Stone, etc. With one glance I can easily pick the fly box I need.

I attach some heavy duty Velcro loop section on the bottom of my fly boxes. I attach the hook part of the Velcro to the end of some old of fly line 12” long (you can use an old shoe string or anything). I attach a safety pin to the other end of the fly line and pin it to the bottom of the pocket of my vest. When (not if) you drop your fly box while you're on the stream, it is attached in your vest pocket and it stays with you. With the Velcro you can remove the box from the vest when you need to, and reattach it when you’re fishing. It works well for me. I lost more boxes of flies than I care to remember before I began securing them to my vest pocket. Good luck
 
My flies are pretty as organized as i get, and thats not saying much. I have a hip pack that holds my hemo's, extra leaders, tippets etc that has a small box with about 20 compartments. I put all my store boughts in there (cause I just started tying) separated into bead head, non-bead head, random dries, terrestrials, and hatch matchers. I also go a wonderful gift of a hand made wooden fly box thats probably about 15"by10" filled with traditional flies. Trying to find a vest with a large pocket maybe in the back to fit it, only down side to it. I put all the traditionals on the left and all the flies I've tied so far on the right separated by nymphs in one row, dries another, terrestrials, buggers, etc. I'd like to get a few smaller boxes to fit some more once i get a larger supply of flies, but this suits me well so far.



I see everyone on here talk about zebra midges... don't know what one is... anyone have a pattern or pic for me?
 
its my favorite fly....

http://charlesmeck.com/a20030900.html
 
well that's not too hard :-D ty

I'm assuming that a tiger midge is the brown and gold one?
 
Yeah... that's how I've always figured it to be.

Regardless, mixing and matching colors with that simple pattern has been all I've needed for subsurface midging. When I find tough trout, its my go to. Try it out in low clear water... i've literally seen drifts where three or four fish took it and spit it out before I could set the hook. Read the article on ways to fish it. As meck says, depth is critical with this fly.


oops... sorry to hijack guys. organize away!
 
Here's a pic of the wooden fly box i'm using.... anyone have any cheap (and i mean inexpensive) vests that might fit something that big... thats all the traditionals i got as a gift... pretty cool stuff
 
If I had that it'd be on a shelf and no where near the water.
 
I like the morell foam boxes they are very light weight and they come in different sizes and color, the blue color are my dries and emergers, the tan are my nymphs and wets ,the dark green are my terrestrials
 
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