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I agree with REE. When you're separating the flies it is just so much easier to divide them equally. I always send a fly back, and expect it myself when I send out a swap box. It makes for an easy comparison as a tyer, but for the swapmeister, going through to make sure you have the right fly in the right box . . . I just make 12 piles and put a fly from each box in a pile, put 'em back in the boxes. You can't imagine how many times we've sat here counting flies, comparing who sent what, which fly is eliminated from which box, and so forth. Anymore it's just 12 piles, 12 flies, 11 boxes (and my generous pile!).
And the extra fly is a good thanks for the organizer. Some tyers send more than one, and sometimes even flies that are different than the swap. That's always fun!
For those who have either never entered a swap, nor hosted one, this is just a kick. Especially hosting one. I love to see how different people package and to witness the conformity of the dozen flies. This has helped my tying and made me more aware of what comes off my vise. I just finished sending out a deer hair swap I hosted here, expecting to see a whole bunch of mice and big hairy poppers only to have some of the most beautiful small trout flies come in, many with some incredible craftmanship involved. As a warmwater tyer, this just completely opened up a whole new world of tying ideas I didn't realize even existed. Before I swapped I just enjoyed the physical and creative side of tying. Swaps have expanded that immensely. What a great way to add to a hobby. JGW
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I agree on the 12 also, What I do when I am hosting a swap is I have a 12 compartment plano box, as the flies come in I place 1 in each compartment, that way when the last set comes in they are all divided and I just have to place the flies from each compartment into the boxes that were sent to me. John
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Okay, new topic for this thread. The September Swap was just announced. The latest reply said, "This is a monthly commitment, not a one off swap." What does that mean? I was interested in doing the hopper pattern swap, but if I do that one, I HAVE to participate in all the rest that come up for the year?
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The swap of the month is an ongoing thing with a rotating swap meister who chooses the fly for the month. It involves a commitment to a monthly swap. If you want to do a regular one time swap of hoppers you could post it on the swap board and see how much interest there is.
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Thank you for the info, Rainbowchaser.