I’ve been having this internal battle with myself about how to organize my flies. At present, I have my flies organized according to species of fish they’re to be used for. The drawback is that a lot of my trout flies work really well for BG and other species. And of course I have buggers in every box because they work for everything. I’ve been thinking of r-organizing so that I have a box for dries, one for nymphs & wets, and one for streamers. Then of course I’ve got to find some place for the poppers, sliders and bass bugs.
I have one box soley dedicated to bluegill and crappie. I recently added some smallmouth flys to the box so I can take it to a local river. This particular river has a nice mixed bag of fish and the smallies range in size from 8" - 12".
My dilema is for my dry flys. Right now I have two boxes. One for Adams type flys and one for Caddis type. I am thinking of buying a Dewitt 18 compartment and put all my drys in one box. I have one box for nymphs and another for buggers and streamers. Plus a box with smaller drys and a midge box.
Norm, I applaud you for your organization, and I’m envious of your skill. Outstanding collection of beautiful flies.
I have about 15+ fly boxes (God only knows why) that became cumbersome carrying in my vest. One day I sat down and asked myself, “If I could only have one box with me for my warm water fishing, what would I have in there?” From that came a box that has served me well for the past two years, and I just restock it from the other boxes. I then have two boxes that I carry for steelhead fishing.
I guess I have two issues…orgranizing my fly boxes AND doing it in such a way that I’m not dragging everything to the stream with me every time I get out to fish.
Right now I have them split up between 6 boxes into nymphs/wets and dries.
Which is fine EXCEPT that I dont’ want to be hauling everyhting with me when I leave the house to fish - LET ALONE trying to pack/cram them into my vest pockets.
I went fishing with Joe B (alra) a week or two ago and he has a vest/pouch system that I’m extremely covetous of! He’s able to fit what he needs into there and it’s compact and provides easy access to his “stuff”. It’s a great system and he must have the discipline to keep it from getting over stuffed - which I would have done before I could even leave the house.
So while it’s realtively easy to organize your flies by box…how do you select only what you need to go fishing?
I’m getting to know the waters I’m fishing and food sources there…so why do I still bring all the flies that match hatches in Montana but not here? Why do I have these sz 6 stonefly nymphs if I know their not in these waters?
THAT is more of a problem for me than the actual organization.
Do you run into the same issue? Do you drag everything out with you everytime or are you able to organize it in such a way that you only take one box with you? I would imagine that you still have flies left over in your flybox from Utah…? are they still in your fly box or are they set aside for now?
I organize by boxes similar to Norm. When I go on a fishing trip I take out the flies I think I’ll need and setup two or three boxes (dries, wet/nymph and midge).
I make this pretty easy. I have one fly box that I carry with me on the water. When I arrive at the lake/stream, I load that single box with what I think I’ll need for the day. I put streamers and larger flies, hoppers & beetles on one side and dry flies and small nymphs on the other side.
When I’m warm water fishing, I put woolie buggers, streamers, SanJuan worms and other below the surface flies on one side, and poppers, spiders, hoppers, etc onn the other.
Thats’s about it. I’m not smart enough to remember where I put everything so I only carry one box on the water with me. It works for me but may not work for anyone else.
I have this innate fear that I will be fishing and wish I had some fly[s] that I tied but left home. It’s curse …I’m one who doesn’t change flies often so I should probably discipline myself to just pick a few for each outting.
I’ve even fantasized about having bins like the fly shops have and just handpicking the flies as needed…
I actually do organize my tying supplies somewhat like shops…a pegboard system…
It great to read this and realize I am not alone. I have some of ths same problems of what to take to the water.
As far as organizing my stock of flies, I seem to now have that under control. I once used the vest size fly boxes for all my flies, but when I got past about 16 boxes it got out of hand. So now I keep my stock of flies in those adjustable Plano 16 -30 compartment retangular tackle organizers. If you buy them from Cabelas or Bass Pro shop they are about $2.50 each. They have adjustable dividers. I have several of these labeled for Caddis, Stoneflies, small mayflies, large mayflies, terrestrials, buggers, etc. Some have both wet and dry patterns like my caddis box, others like my mayfly boxes are dries with a “nymph” box for the wets. The point is, these are organized by insect class/pattern. When I go to a particular fishing location, I draw from these to fill a vest size box for daily fishing. I generally carry 2 vest boxes, one for wets and one for dries.
Yes I do have the same problem. I typically take 4 or 5 boxes with me anytime I fish. I know its not efficient, but I-like Joe-can’t get past the feeling that I might just need those size 18 or 20 BWO’s and PMD’s. I never have, but when I first started fly fishing there were a couple of years when I didn’t have a good collection to rely on. All I really had were Adams, GRHE, and Humpies. I always felt unprepared and whenever I go that fear creeps back. Funny thing is, I always caught fish with those 3 patterns. Always. But I fished with a buddy and his Dad that had every pattern you could dream of and was always jealous of that.
Now, I have my go-to Utah box and that is ALWAYS in my vest. I cannot let go of that one, and it is always the first one I look in, just out of habbit. I might need a bass bug or a popper, but my naturally reaches for my Utah trout box.
I really like the idea of bringing it all to the water and taking only what you might need in one box for that time period. I am definately going to adopt that habbit and stick to it. (Undoudtedly, it will be the box that always held my home trout go-to’s with a few additions.)
My main 4 boxes that go in my chest pack.
buggers
Nymphs(most used)(pheasant tails, 3 rows of them! in different sizes!ha.)
Not as frequently used nymphs/midges
Dries/terrestrials (not to popular with the fish in my local waters) (thats why the box is small.
Soft hackles/Emergers
Theres my main four… and of course I have about 5 others with some other stuff in them that sit on the shelves at home! and some big plano storage boxes full of flies!
If some one made a Wheatley style fly box that was 2" deep by 4 1/2" wide and 7 1/2" long, rippled foam on one side and compartments on the other, I could get by with only ONE fly box. I fish dry’s 80% of the time so my concentration would lie there. I almost never fish streamers but have a small perrine streamer box that I could also carry.
As it is, I usually carry 3-4 boxes with no particular organizing other than putting flies into the box that they best fit.
Scott
P.S. For mountain stream brookies, a large fly patch would do the trick!
I have a box of nymphs with a few streamers in the lid, a dry fly/soft hackle box, and a warm water box that contains streamers and poppers. I usually carry 2 of the 3. I won’t need the warm water box if I’m fishing cold water. If I’m fishing warm water, I can put everything I need into the box with streamers and poppers and just carry it.
I believe the reason so many of us have so many fly boxes with so many variations of the same fly, is because we feel the need to tie every pattern that we have ever been exposed to, and to tie it in six different sizes and twelve colors of each size (you do the math cuz I can’t)…just in case we might need them. Truth be told, most of us have no more than about 5 or 6 flies that are our “go to” flies. We fish them very differently than any other flies, and have a huge amount of confidence in their fish-catching ability. I know that’s true for me and many of my friends.
But, do we really even need 5 or 6 patterns? How many of you have heard of “ONE FLY” tournaments? That’s where the angler is permitted only a few flies of the same pattern to fish with all day long. I have read about these tournaments, and have been amazed at the fish that have been caught using only one fly.
We have so many patterns in so many sizes in so many boxes because that’s the American way. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
(thats why the box is small.
