Hi Everyone,

I just had a (funny???) incident occur that raised an important question in my mind. Instead of restocking my fly box at my regular tying desk, I decided to enjoy the cool morning air on my screened-in back porch. With a lot of furniture shuffling, I was able to arrange a reasonably suitable tying area with the porch furniture though nowhere near as comfortable as my regular tying station. I planned to tie some Griffth Gnats in sizes #18, #20, and #22 so I carefully selected my material and laid hooks and hackle out on the porch table. In the hour or so I was tying, the morning breeze freshened a bit, and one particular strong gust caused both prepared hackles and finished flies to vanish completely from my table and take up residence in an unbelievable number of nooks and crannies on the porch. I found most of the prepared hackles but I'm still missing a number of completed Griffth Gnats.

During my ten-minute search of the porch floor several questions came to mind. My first question was whether anyone except professional writers actually carry and use a stream-side tying kit. Just setting up a new tying area on my porch was difficult and wasn't particularly comfortable. Compound this problem with slick rocks, briars, sharp sticks and fire ants (if you're from the Southeastern states) and you've got a torture chamber for a tying area. Add dropped and probably lost tools, spilled hooks, and materials suddenly and unexpectedly becoming airborne and you have total insanity. Given the weight of my fly fishing vest already, a few additional saddles hackles would be the straw that broke the camel's back. Does anyone really carry a stream-kit and use it on a regular basis?

Secondly, if you do carry a stream-side kit and use it frequently has it ever saved your fishing trip as it frequently seems to do with many of the sports writers? You know the drill. Trout were actively feeding all over the river but they ignored every fly in my box. It wasn't until I put my good eye right down at the water level that I could see that the trout were feeding on emerging #56 Blue-Arsed Triceratopses. I quickly tied half a dozen of these flies and caught every fish in the river. My ex-fishing buddy caught nothing because I refused to share my newly-tied flies with him.

Seriously Folks, do you regularly carry a stream-side fly tying kit, do you use it fairly frequently and has it ever saved the day by providing you with just the "right" fly? 8T