Ok…so I know there have been a few posts about pictures of our fly boxes, but now here’s a question that doesn’t require pictures(unless you want to post some) How do most of you organize your boxes? Do you have seperate “Nymph” boxes, “Streamer” boxes, etc… or just a couple of hodge podge mixtures in each? Do you arganize by pattern, or size? Or maybe even both? I’ve just picked up my first C&F box, and it’s going to be for my dries. I’ve ordered the one with the small compartements in side for indicators and split shot also, just for nymphing. My other concern is whether or not to pick up one of the ones designed for streamers? Is this just an obsession, or does it really make sense? Come on people, fill me in, I need guidance here!!
I carry 4 separate boxes.
1.dry
2.terrestials/attractors
3.nymph/wet
4.streamers
I sort each pattern into groups by size and color so I really don’t have to search for what I want when I open the box
I have a few “systems”
[ul]
[li]Big salmon dries[/
2873d][/li][li]Small dries (trout)[/2873d][/li][li]Samll Salmon wets [/2873d][/li][li]Big Salmon wets[/2873d][/li][li]Trout streamers[/2873d][/li][li]2 sided plano with Woolies on one side and assotment of small dries on the other[/2873d][/li][li]Midges[/2873d][/li][li]Assortment box for visitors and clients[/2873d][/ul][/li]
Then again, … the kit bag on the beach or in the canoe has 6-10 Shop sized boxes with a large assortment of flies (about 500-800 flies in there) so I can load up boxes with a few flies it we’re missing any 
Christopher Chin, Jonquiere Quebec
[url=http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/Forum1/HTML/015738.html:2873d]2006 FishIn Ste-Marguerite River[/url:2873d]
[url=http://pages.videotron.com/fcch/:2873d]Fishing the Ste-Marguerite[/url:2873d]
I’ve been drooling over the C&F boxes for months…I’d like to go with the box that allows the exchange of inserts…and the 6 insert fileing box…Looks great…but the price just keeps me wincing…I’m basically a cheap skate…unless I really want something…Right now…It’s a Kyak…A Mirage Outback!!!..even found one a few hundered shy of the $1669.00 dollar MSRP…
and I really should not buy this…I really should not…But I’m going to look at it next saturday…Really don’t think you can go wrong with those boxes…Provided you won’t be abandoning a wheatly or Downstream chest box or something pricy like that…I’d have too…
These needful things are a killer aren’t they!!! 
billknepp…darn you with the talk of a kayak!! I’ve also been thinking about one!! I’m looking towards the Hobie line though. I think I’m very interested in the model they have with the built in flippers on the bottom for propulsion. It’s designed around fishing and has a ton of fishing ammenties built in. Oh well, life calls for things to make it more fun right??
Is ziplock a system?
…lee s.
bwagner,
The outback is a Hobie of that very design!!
I already own a Hobie Float cat 75…Which the wife really knows nothing about…she has not seen it as yet…or she might question my NEED for this new boat…which…well I really should not buy…I could by all rights get away very well with Old Town’s Pack Canoe…A 12 ft. Solo Canoe for 1000.00 lighter in price tag…But that whole Mirage drive thing just won’t allow me to consider the money saved…but I could add a trolling motor and still be well below a grand…desisions… My mind just can’t handle this…LOL won’t need the hour or so drive either for that…
[This message has been edited by billknepp (edited 11 March 2006).]
I do not have a ton of flies, but I like to categorize my flies by the hatch. So I live in W. MT which means I need a box for my stoneflies, and I buy the 4 compartment pretty big compartments (4"x6") and I fill it with the dry and nymphs of that stone fly, so I only need one at a time. I have mayfly hatches sorted by dries (parachutes, cripples, standards, comparaduns, and CDCs), and a box of mayfly nymphs that cover 8-18. It is a slim mylan box, I can about 20 bugs per compartment in the bigger bugs sizes there. And then I carry a 3 compartment dewitt box with my streamers. So anytime I go fishing I have a nymph box, stonefly box (if the hatch is on), streamer box, and dry fly boxes of the hatches that are happening. I have been caught when an unexpected hatch occurs, but… again, my advice is worth what you paid for, free.
Here’s how I organize my flies:
I have an old Wheatley box with lidded compartments on one side and wet fly clips on the other side. I put my mayfly dries in the compartments and my nymphs in the wet fly clips.
I keep my wet flies in a small swing-leaf Wheatley box.
I put my streamers in a fleece-lined streamer book.
A put my caddis dries in a small Myran box. I think the Myran boxes are the best thing going for a high-quality low cost plastic box. I have a bunch of the larger ones at home that I use for fly storage.
I have a large Myran box in my vest where I keep miscellaneous dry flies that don’t fit into one of the other “categories”
Isn’t the words “flybox” and “organize” in the same sentence or phrase a contradiction of terms?
OK, this winter I separated dries and nymphs, and have a stillwater combo box. We’ll see how long this lasts.
I use those big clear organizer trays (24x12)with small compartments found in hobby shops and hardware stores.
In truth you will catch fish from one end of the country to the other with a double handful of patterns, the numbers of flies climb because of variety in sizes within that pattern.
your basic muddler or EHC in sizes 10,12,14, 16 --a dozen of each-- and so on for 10 or 12 more patterns and poof! you have a storage issue.
For fishing, a small box able to hold 2 sizes each of half a dozen patterns is perfect.
Run out of flies and you need only refill from your car or camp based storage bins.
I have observed many fly anglers over the years and there seem to be those who like flies, those who like fly fishing, and those who like to fish using flies…each group has their own ideas of what is minimal equipment, LOL.