Name tags for flies

[HCR]

Met a guy new to FF on the Rio Grande in S. CO. this summer. He had bought flies somewhere in TX. (Bass Pro Shop?), each of which had a little paper I.D. tag attached.

He was so concerned about learning the names of flies that he carefully reattached the little name tag when he returned the fly to the box after fishing it.

Anybody else seen tagged flies?

Makes a lot of sense to me as I was overwhlemed as a beginner trying to remember the correct names. Since then I have met many fly fishers on the stream who, upon seeking my advice as to a fly, have admitted they had no idea if they had such a fly in their boxes.

[Eric-WD]

I know the correct names by instinct,

there is the little black with the parachute wing, the brown fuzzy nymph, the olive one with the black hackle etc.

Correct enough for me.

Eric

[Normand]

i usually tie all of my flies and on occasion wonder what in the world did i tie when i get to use it.

no i dont tag my flies.

i do use a toe tag when swapping flies

[Cold]

If I used paper tags to ID my flybox...there'd be so much pulpy mush at the bottom of the bins.

No, I go from general to specific as I pick it up. Start off general: nymph, streamer, etc. Then attractor or imitator. If it imitates, i learn what it imitates, if an attractor i skip this step, then, if i'm still interested in the pattern, I try to memorize its name. Form follows function.

I've found that many times this works just as good, if not better, than describing a fly by pattern name. The guy at the shop might not know what would be a good dubbing for a Royal Whizbang Monstrosity, but he'll probably be able to point you in the right direction for a large golden stone dry that uses foam, peacock herl, and some kind of flashy spiky dubbing.

[Martin McFly]

in my case one box for dry, one for wet and one for weird flies. It's nice to know the names of the flies but will not make you catch more fish.

[Bluegill222]

You're starting to see it in big box stores like Cabelas and BPS. Besides the name of the fly, the tags will also have a barcode which makes life easier and faster at the register and inventory management a lot more manageable as well. I also know of at least one of my customers who uses them afterwards to label the compartments in his fly boxes.

[HCR]

Thanks Bluegill--that's what I wanted to know. I didn't consider the inventory control aspect, just thought it a neat aid to those starting out.

[CaseyP]

when i was starting out, the most useful fly-related gift was a box of "Eastern Trout" flies from Orvis. the flies sat in a row on a strip of foam and the names were beside them on the back of the box. took me a week or so to get to know them, and i was good to go. turned out they were all your standard flies--definitely the ones to learn first!

[bobbyg]

Trout like 'em. Helps them decide whether to refuse or take!

bobbyg

[Silver Creek]

Commercially tied Targus flies have tags with UPC codes to track inventory and for check out. Is that what you mean?