Fly Box Organization

thebassman

thebassman

Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2009
Messages
469
Hey Guys,

Just wondering how you guys organize your fly boxes? How many you have? and how many you take out on the stream?

I am going through my fly boxes and realized how unorganized they were and am trying to figure out a good system.

I do not have much.....but they are all mixed up. Anyone just carry one box out on the stream??

Steven
 
I carry 1 box full of about 200 eggs patterns, then i have a swingleaf orvis box filled with about 300 nymphs, 1 side pheasant tail/mayflies, the next beadheads, then midges. larva, chromonoids etc, then the next full of soft hackles or odds and ends. then i carry a streamer box and a smaller morrell box full of 12 dry flies all in different sizes.
 
on bigger, I carry a nymph/streamer box, a dryfly/soft hackle box, and two small boxes containing any combination of caddis, wullfs, stimulators, hoppers,etc depending on the stream and time of year.
for small brookie streams, one box containing some generic dry,wet,nymph, and streamer patterns.
 
5 small dry fly compartment boxes specific for hatch period (ex sulphur and March Brown)
Large foam nymph box
3 large streamer boxes added when necessary. 1 is bass specific.
1 yarn egg box
1 estaz egg box
1 small stream dry box
1 small stream nymph/streamer box


On days I'm spending all day on the water I carry about 4-5 boxes. When I'm hatch chasing, or on a spinnerfall, then I just carry those and try not to be disapointed if the fish aren't rising, because that's my goal. And I just use a small pack and put in the essentials for that trip. Nice to pack light in those occasions.

I tried to be more organized about 2-3 years ago and it does help.


does this mean you need some more fly boxes????? ;-)
 
Ryan, PM me if you can I have a question about the reel I bought. Sorry do ask you but when I try to PM you I just get my own profile and tells me I don't have permission. Thanks
 
Two small boxes. One with the swing leaf, on my lanyard. Front two are dry flies and nymphs, the last two midges, limestone flies, 'junk' flies and streamers. I also carry a small box in my camelbak. I the other just has a random assortment of flies. Maybe 100-150 Flies altogether. No need to carry what your not ever gunna need. IMO.
 
I don't keep flies long enough to worry about organizing them. I have them scattered throughout the rocks and trees :) But what I do have is kept in a cabelas xl leaf box I got for 14 bucks online. Maybe if I got ahead on flies I'd keep them in one big box. Maybe a wall mounted case with a glass door in the living room? I would take up less room than a gun cabet. I'm sure the Mrs would have something to say about that.
 
Well I'm still a bit of a newbie, but I generally carry 1 compartment box for dry flies - my fly collection isn't that large, so it works. I also carry a really small compartment box for midges, bwo's, and any other dry smaller than size 18.

I carry one Morell foam box full of nymphs on one side and egg, worms, and soft hackles on the other side. Then I generally have a streamer box with me with trout streamers. I have a second streamer box full of bass-specific flies that I only carry when I'm targeting bass.

I think as I accumulate more flies I'll start carrying a more hatch- or season-specific selection of flies - there's really no good reason for me to have hoppers and sulphurs on me when I'm fishing in the middle of winter. Just so happens that they all fit in my fly box right now!
 
One 16 compartment Wheatley w/ foam lid filled to match the expected conditions. Rotate dries in the compartments thru the season, mainstays are midges, caddis and BWO's. Rotate sulphurs, grannoms, terrestrials or other expected hatches in and out. Foam lid filled with nymphs; mostly PT's, hares ears, scuds & cress bugs and couple buggers/small streamers, some beadhead soft hackles mixed in.

Other box is a 12 compartment Wheatley w/ foam lid, filled with small stream flies, same general nymph selection as above then Adams, terrestrials, more caddis and the preferred attractors fill the compartments.

One of those two boxes goes in a shirt pocket, other stays in the bag along with a 32 compartment Wheatley that's filled with more specific seasonal hatch matchers, emergers & spinner patterns.

Restock and rotate inventory of the boxes as needed, sometimes I carry all three to the stream, sometimes all but one stays in the car. Also have a very small box that holds a couple Clousers, sculpins and Shenk's white minnows that stays in a pocket in my chest waders just in case...
 
1 box. How I pack it depends on where I'm fishing, what I'm fishing for, and the conditions in which I am fishing for the day. I usually bring too many flies in that one box and end up fishing the same streamer all day. In the end, I catch the fish i want to catch on that streamer, but the old scout in me will not allow me not to be prepared.
 
This is kind of a tough one, sometimes I have four boxes with a few of each bug/family/phase. Lately I'm wanting to have a box( again ) for stones, caddis, mayflies, streamers, soft hackles, all nice and neat in their own boxes. Problem is I go back and forth about this I never seem to get them to their own box. I'm getting closer, I have just got the stones done. It's a start. I do have a box just for the brookies as well.
 
I have no organiztion to my boxes other then size and pattern.
 
Total weight of all my fly boxes weigh in at about 50lb. I higher a Sherpa to carry all of them and the 30lb of beer n food I need for a morning outing.
 
I'm awful with boxes. I have too many. I have two medium sized swingleaf boxes, one Orvis and one C&F. The orvis one keeps all my eggs, worms, junkflies, etc. The C&F has midges, nymphs, czechs, PTs, etc. I have a Plano side by side which is full of about 300 dries, in various sizes, and then for streamers, I built a custom box out of a big doctor slick scissor gift box. I ripped out everything and glued down foam. It's got about 50 articulated streamers, some classic stuff (ghosts, mickey finns, etc) and tons of buggers. Then the inside of my sling bag has a fly foam patch that's full of slumpbusters and leeches.

Dont get me started on my salt and bass boxes...urgh. There's gotta be a better way.
 
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