I visited one of our local fly shops and found a Perrine aluminum fly box, model 90, which I promptly bought ($20.00). I was under the impression that Perinne no longer makes the aluminum boxes. Am I correct in this impression? And if so, do you know when they quit production.
Thanks,
Tim
They quit a few years ago, but there seems to be plenty of them around in shops still. I personally love them. I’ve had a few for over 20 years and, other than carving my name in them, they are in almost perfect shape, even after being dropped in the stream, knocked off the tailgate of the truck into the gravel, etc, etc, etc.
They’re the poor man’s wheatley box.
I had a small one given to me… I ripped the clips out of it and put in craft foam, and ground the box with a dremel bit to make it have more grip and have a cool swirl design on it.
I didn’t know that they quit, Maybe just maybe i would have kept it normal and in good condition.
I’ve replaced the “guts” of almost all of my perrine boxes with the replacement ripple foam that Wheatley sells.
One of things I like about them is the metal clips. I like the way they hold a fly. I have a model 96 that is still in good shape after many years of being banged around, dropped, etc.
I do not like the ones with the spring hook holders. I have a couple of friends who do and they were happy with the ones I gave them for Christmas, which I purchased from a fellow FAOL member.
If anybody has a Perrine with the metal clips they wish to part with I might be willing to buy it outright or trade some flies for it.
Tim
I have a #92that is preaty cool. I don’t think I will sell it though. I kinda collect stuff like that.
I have both types and don’t use either type these days,2 coil and 1 clip with swing leaf…I started to do a re-model job on the one,As others have posted by drilling out all the rivet’s that held the coil holder’s in place and that was as far as I got…it still rattles with all the parts inside if I gotta move it outta the way…I may start using them in my Hobie boat bag as I remember they absorbed alot of flies and you could actually see clearly what they were!..Not so with my present boxes…But, I tend to jam’um pretty full…
I really need to sit down and sort out all of my boxes, and cut things to 2or 3 of each pattern…at present I carry more flies than most will fish in a lifetime and still never seem to have what I want!
They are tough boxes…
I’ve got an aluminum Perrine #66 fly box. It’s small and will fit in your shirt pocket. It has the rows of springs/coils to hold flies.
I’ve had this box for at least 20 years and it still looks new but I dont use it anymore.
Well I’ve got about half a dozen of them, clip kind, spring kind, window/clip kind etc…I’d have to dig them out to get the model #'s and would sell or trade for something like a used Lamson LP2 with spare spool or two…could be in rough shape but works ok. Or maybe a green 7 wt. 8.5 to 9 ft. two piece blank…let’s see what else…some new or good used floating fly lines in DT or WTF, 6 to 9 wt…kinda sounds like I don’t like or use the Perrines huh.
Cheers,
MontanaMoose
Well I guess.
I have sweet OLD Perrine box that has aluminum strips running horizontally across one side with thicker cork strips underneath the aluminium strips. The flies get stuck in the cork like modern slotted foam boxes today and the hackles don’t get mashed!
See, there is no new ideas! 
On the lid there is a felt pad of some kind with a snap that snaps the pad on to the lid. I figured that was for drying the flies or wiping away tears when you lose the lunker.
It’s a pretty cool fly box!
I ruined a full box of flies when the springs rusted on one of my Perrine boxes.
I don’t use that one any more
My first real fly box was a Perrine. I still have it. I’m not sure of the model, but it has a big plasic swing leaf to access the dry fly compartments and spring and clips on the lid. I used that thing for years. The other one has individual lids for the dry flys and all spring clips in the lid. Since the cliips won’t hold flys smaller than #14, I had thought about replacing the clips with foam, but haven’t gotten around to it.