How to store dropper flies with leader attached

[Andrew]

I often fish nymphs as dropper flies. I am struggling with what to do with the nymphs with the leader attached when I change flies or wrap up for the day.

Mostly I just stuff them into my fly box but that makes for a bird's nest that I have to untangle when finding another nymph.

I don't want to cut off the leader from the nymph as I think that is just wastefull plus then I've got to tie more knots on stream.

I recently bought an Orvis 'watershed' box with a gizmo that is supposed to let you attach the nymph with the leader and wrap the leader around the gizmo but that seems to only good for two or three flies without tangling.

What do other people do?

Thank you in advance for your help.

[Steve Molcsan]

I use an old Berkley plastic chuck and chance leader holder.

it is a flat holder that you hook around and wind, slips into a nice
plastic case to boot. You know the ones used for egg setups,
treble, leader and sinker.

Has served me well for a long time now..

Steve

[Joe Valencic]

First, are you sure you don't mean tippet material instead of leader material? I think you mean tippet, as you should not be tying the fly directly to the leader.

I know this is not the answer you're after, but I cut off the tippet and pitch it. Tippet material is too cheap to reuse, especially if it's been thru a few fish or bounced off the bottom of a stream.

If you want a better price on tippet material, check out Hook & Hackle's private labeled tippet in nylon & flourocarbon. Nylon 3x-7x comes on 50 yard spools for $3.25 while 0x-2x comes on 30 yard spools for the same price. FLourocarbon runs $9.00 in the same size/quantity configuration. they also carry 8x flourocarbon for those who are so inclined.

http://shop4.mailordercentral.com/ho...s.asp?dept=351

Joe

[Jack Hise]

This is a "Tackle Buddy" I picked up years ago for storing jigs with leaders on. It has 15 raised hooks to hold the tippet loop and after winding the tippet around the barrel just stick the hook in the soft rubber. It's also hollow so you have a place to store things like strike indicators, etc.
If you think it is what you want send me a pm, I have 3 and can part with one.

[kengore]

I made my own holdersfor pre-tied dropper rigs.

Get some popsicle sticks and some 6mm foam from the craft store. Slice the foam in to strips to match the width of the popsicle sticks, cut the foam strips to even lentghs about about 1/2 shorter than the popsicle sticks. Now glue up a 'sandwich' of alternating layers of foam and wood sticks, the popsicle stick ends should stick out 1/4" beyond the foam. A 6 layer stack ends up about 2 1/2" X 5", just the right size for a shirt pocket.

I tie up dropper rigs with pre-made tippet sections using a non-slip loop. The loop goes over the end of the popsicle stick and I wrap the tippet material around the foam sections. When I get to a fly I embed the hook into the foam. Each layer of the 'sandwich' can hold a dropper rig with out snagging it's neighbor. I can put several of these in a ziplock bag as required.

Here is a rough picture...

===================
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
===================
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
===================
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
===================
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
===================

where XXX is the foam
and ====== is the popsicle stick

[SweetStreamS]

And I thought I was the only one! I use the tackle buddy to make up two and three fly leaders. I store the tackle buddy in a "Crystal Lite" plastic tube (Crystal lite is a powder drink mix.) I place a foam tube at the top and bottom of the tackle buddy to keep it centered in the tube so the flys don't get bounced around in transport. If you recall I was asking how to glue the foam tube together. Barge cement worked, but it was a struggle.
SweetStreamS

[SweetStreamS]

Jack Hise,
I've got a photo of my tackle buddy setup for storing premade leaders. I've got it in photobucket. How do I get it on here?? I tried the "manage attachments" below from my pictures and was told it was "too big"..
SweetStreamS

[Normand]

dropper rig fly box from orvis

[Robert Taipala]

Great Idea kengore I think I'm going to try to make some up. Thanx

[tlerm]

Kengore, that is just BRILLIANT. I really need to make one of those ASAP.

Thanks for the tip.