Organization for the minimalist

R

Rbull

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Since its winter with not much going on, I thought I would ask another of my questions which seem to require many diffrent answers from many diffrent people. How do you organize your flies? Do you seperate them by season, or do you seperate them by type or do you just take everything you own everytime you go? I personally don't like being loaded down with stuff so I cant move through the brush, and it seems like most of the bulk comes from fly boxes. So I'm looking for how you do it.
 
This will be the first year that I'm not spending the winter reorganizing my downs box.
I now have it into premantate trays: streamers, nymphs; and then swap out the dry fly trays that I swap out my season. I would rather have it set up differently, but can bring myself to empty them all again. I need to though, to accomadate some new patterns I tie, and some I have elimiated.
 
I dont have any certain method. Mostly it's a cluster. I do however put nymphs in one box and dries in another. My problem has been taking too many flies but that was probably my lack of knowledge.

I empty out the box totally about twice a year and switch out flies. Paul
 
Every time I try to minimize my fly boxes, I end up need some I didn't expect to need, therefore I don't even attemp it anymore. I just make sure I have every possible fly that would be hatching on the streams I fish. It comes out to about 12 boxes.
 
I've got different boxes for each type (caddis, midges, nymphs, streamers, terrestrials, saltwater, etc.) I do have one box that is a smorgasboard of smaller flies (dries, nymphs and streamers) for when I trek up a small mountain stream and don't want or need the whole vest.
My dry flies are divided into 3 primary boxes by color simply going from lightest to darkest (White flies to back spinner). Don't know why I did it that way - by season seems to be most logical - but I know where everything is when I need it.
 
I have a three tray Richardsons Chest box. I put all my atractors in the first tray (the one closest to the front). I put all my streamers and large flies in the back tray. In the middle, I would rotate the flies to be the "match the hatch" stuff. Although really, it ended up being a big muddle.

I put a small pack on the harness to hold the tools, tippet etc. that you need. In that I would often carry a couple fly boxes of midges and match the hatch stuff or flies that I was giving a try before finding a place for them in the chest box.

A chest box is good for cutting down on weight, but it does require a lot of organizing and reorganizing. So maybe it wasn't the best choice for me.
 
I was just asking myself this question yesterday as I was staring at my pile of fly boxes and loose flies.

I had previously had them separated by type and by target species, however this didn't work out to well cause I ended up brining everything I own anyway.

This year I am going to attempt to keep a dry box, a nymph/wet fly box and a streamer box for the trout stuff and for the bass I will have a popper box, streamer box and a box for the oddities I tie for the bass.

I have cut down on the mass by using a nut/bolt storage cabinet. It has 39 drawers and this is used as a restocking station. This way I don't have to keep every fly I own with me in the boxes.

I have thought about putting one of these units in the back of my car. There is a 22 drawer version of this that I think would work well for a restock on the stream. This way I could carry a large amount of flies to the water and pick and choose what I wanted to carry while I was gearing up.

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Bob
 
I should also say that I had camo shirts from Cabelas that were orignially designed for dove hunting. But the big chest pockets were great for holding a decent sized flybox. I used to use one of those and a couple special boxes for warm weather fishing when I knew I wouldn't need a whole lot of flies. You know, like in the summer when you figger it's just going to be terrestrials and midges.
 
cambyses,

I have a 64 compartment one like that. It works well of restocking.
 
I like it thus far, it definitely beats having all the loose flies sitting on my tying bench and then me getting stuck in the hand while I'm routing around!
 
I find the "64 compartments" funny! You know, since the title of the post is .... for the minimalist.
 
I find the "64 compartments" funny! You know, since the title of the post is .... for the minimalist.
Click to expand...

It's not for 64 different fly patterns. For instance, pheasant tails, could take up 24 compartments (6 each in various sizes: regular PTs, beadhead, flashback, and beadhead flashback). Not saying this is how I keep it, just giving an example. I use mine mostly for dry flies because they take up more space in a down's box, where I usually carry less than 4 of each pattern.

But I do see the irony.
 
Dear CAMBYSES,

Interesting concept that can be done for a lot less money by getting 2 or 3 Plano 3700 boxes and a web strap to hold them together.

Seriously, 3 Plano 3700's would hold all of Dan Bailey's flies if you know what I mean, and you can buy them in a tackle shop for about $ 2.99 a piece?

If you stock up a couple of small spin/plug fishing boxes with flies you can carry tens of thousands of flies in a central location and only pull out the flies you want to carry with you to toss in your "On Stream Minimalist" box.

I can't bring myself to get that organized but I figured I'd offer a tip.

Regards,
Tim Murphy 🙂
 
Tim,

Thats a really good point and who doesn't like saving money!

I have a ton of 3700 boxes but they are all full of my bass tackle.


Bob
 
I always go light! All these neat lightweight fly boxes today. I can carry all the flies I'll ever need for any trip in two boxes!!

Great tip: Instead of having all the "dangling" crap all over your vest, try to clamp the forceps directly to your shirt of vest!! Clippers and floatant in a pocket. I saw this in a trout vid last year and it sure helped me a lot!

You'll have a better trip if you go light! Lightest rod, lightest reel, lightest waders, lightest boots, lightest camera, and lightest tackle!
 
I carry a fly inventory that would rival many a small fly shop. I would much rather carry a couple of extra boxes and be sure I have the fly that matches the best hatch of the year that I run into instead of trying to make a less effective imitation or stage of a fly work. My 5 tray Richardson box holds only dry flies (at least at the start of the season) and my nymphs are grouped by caddis, mayfly, stonefly, attractors then spinners in another, emergers in another. It does add up to a lot of boxes but I know what's in each and where to find it.
Jim Kearney
 
I have one box with caddis and one with streamers. The rest of my flies are mixed in many other boxes. I try to take the ones that will work the best when I go.

Bill
 
I have several large compartmented storage boxes that I keep my flies in. When I go fishing, I just take out the type and sizes of what I think I'll need. No point in carrying a lot of different flies when there's zero chance I'll be needing them. I have a small compartmented Cortland box I carry in my vest pocket that I use to carry the selected files. For a spring fishing trip to the Quitty in Annville or Manada on the delayed harvest section I probably only carry 10-12 flies total. Simplification. Actually I learned that from the late Art Flick of New York.
 
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