fly boxes

[flyguy]

Hi! I'm looking for some advise on organizing flies for on the stream. I own a chest box system as well as boxes of various types. I keep all dry flies in compartments and nymphs,streamers,and egg patterns in c&f boxes. I'm new to the site and have been fly fishing and tying for a while now but I'm always learning and looking for advise from anyone.

 

[MKern]

I take the usual flie sI fish and organize them in the my chest pack, and place flies that I seldom use in small boxes (or just leave them home)

You'd be surprized how little flies you can take and still catch a ton of fish. Heck, half the time the sam 2-3 flies are on my line for multiple trips. I could probably fish for weeks without even taking back-up flies.

 

[pcray1231]

I get 95% of my flies in my Richardson, and the rest stay rather haphazardly in a box at home to add to or subtract from the Richardson. I used to do a separate box for nymphs, dries, and streamers + terrestrials, but abandoned it in favor of organizing by species when I got the Richardson.

3 tray model. All strip foam, no compartments. Strips on lid and base of each tray.

Tray 1 (closest to chest): Sections: Streamers, egg flies, terrestrials, attractors and random.

Tray 2: Sections: BWO's, sulphurs, march brown/gray fox, drakes, midges/tricos. Subsections: nymphs, emergers, comparaduns, thorax duns, traditional duns, spinners. Sub-sub sections: Size. Sub-sub-sub sections: Color variation (like orange vs. yellow on sulphurs). Sub-sub-sub sections: Weighted or unweighted for nymphs (use different color for thread on head).

^^ Yeah, way too complicated. They get all screwed up, and its a contstant battle to reorganze.

Tray 3: My caddis tray. Sections: Deep nymphs, shallow nymphs, emergers, soft-hackled dries, deer/elk hair dries, wets.

^^The wets are mostly caddis imitations, but not all, though I use them mostly for caddis hatches. All my traditional wets go here including picket pins and the like.

 

[PaulG]

Flyguy

If you ever find a system for organizing your flies, please let me know. I've been trying for years and still haven't figured it out!

Good luck!

PaulG

 

[Padraic]

I'm with PaulG. I have used a number of systems and never stuck with anything.

I used a Richardson and organized my flies by size. This was mostly because of the dividers of the box that big flies fit in the tray closest to my chest, middle sized and small in the middle and outside tray. I put most of my imitators in the middle tray and the attractors in the outside.

I attached a small bag to the harness and carried split shot, tippet and other things there. In that bag, I would also carry a small box with imitators that had a shorter season. That's to say, midges, sulphurs and cahills that hatch for longer periods ended up in the chest box. March Browns and other flies that you had to have the right fly for, but only for a week or two would be in the smaller flybox.

 

[AugustWest]

My summer chest pack is small and has room for only one C&F box. Nymphs on one side and dries on the other. After years of carrying everything but the kitchen sink, I made myself pare down and have never been disappointed.

My spring pack has spring hatch flies and nymphs pretty much in the order they normally appear. In the spring you know what you are likely to encounter don't you?

My warmwater (smallmouth) pack is also small with white flies and regular underwater and topside bass stuff. Again, how many times have you been surprised by what you find?

I was a "carry everything" guy for years, but once I made myself organize, I had more fun. I did not do this in one day but over time the light bulb began to burn brighter and brighter over my head.

 

[MKern]

I think dries are simpler that people make them.

For instance, I carry one dry pattern in one size with me at all times that works over every hatch. (Or has yet to let me down).

It's a light dun parachute size 14, split dun tails (sometimes adding a third pointing straight back), and a neutral color body that could represent the underbelly of many mayfly species from BWO to Slates.

The size 14 allows me to use 5X without huge amounts of drag and the fly looks like everything, but nothing in particular.


In the fall and Winter months I carry about a dozen flies with me. And during these times I often catch more fish that Spring of Summer --- presentation and confidense

 

[whitefly]

I am the recent recipient of one of these:

http://www.anglersupplyhouse.com/shop/item.asp?itemid=3

Mine was given to me by a friend. It includes the optional harness and a tippet holder. What's even more astonishing is that he lives in Ohio and is a Cleveland Browns fan while I am from western Pennsyltucky and a member of the Steeler nation forever! Fly fishing do make for some strange outdoors buddies don't it?

 

[shakey]

i use a combination of vintage perrine,modern ripple foam and clear plastic divided boxes .by far my favorite are..................................altoids tins.

 

[flyguy]

Thanks for all the replies! To thoughs who use the richardsons or the downs systems, have you ever gotten contents soaked by rain or snow for that matter? Sorry if it seems like a stupid question. I suppose this brings up the topic of versatility as well. You guys are right there really is no clear cut system. I really like my downs system but there is also arguement for the vest and chest pack users as well. There is just so many products on the market and so many new things around the corner, it's crazy! I guess it's just about what's comfortable for me.

 

[pcray1231]

Flyguy,

As said earlier, I'm a Richardson owner. Rain doesn't soak the contents, it gets between the trays, but doesn't get inside the lid. The trays aren't waterproof or anything, so I suppose in a real soaker they could, but it just doesn't tend to.

That said, I've slipped and taken a dunking, every fly gets soaked. Dumped the water out, tray by tray, hoping flies don't come loose from the foam. At the end of the day, open every tray like an accordian to let the air get to it, everything dried by morning. I don't have them, but you can get removable ripple foam inserts. So you can take out the insert and hang to dry, substitute different inserts, or for in the salt you can spray it down after an outing. But yeah, lack of waterproofing is one downfall of a Richardson, the other one is having to add a pouch somewhere or other for keys, shot, tippet, etc. Everything else I love.

I'd like to get a close look at a Down's system. My first impression is that the ability to add or subtract trays is really nice, and the price is better, with the downfall being they don't hold as many flies as a Richardson. But after years of vest only, I'm sold on chest boxes. No fumbling in pockets for multiple boxes. Even if let it get disorganized, looking in a new tray is just snapping open a new tray, rather than putting away a box, fumbling and finding the one I want, etc. Since flies are displayed hands free, it frees up hands too.

MKern,

I think you're right about color. I'm a matcher, I like having an exact match. But to be perfectly honest, exact color is the least important. Most important is size, 2nd most important is pattern, but color comes in a distant 3rd. For brookies, forget it, even size and pattern aren't important. Just my $.02.

 

[JoeE]

I’m a chest box owner junkie, 2 Richardson’s (one old 4 compartment and a newer 3 compartment with removable foam), a fly deck and a Downstream Chest box. The fly deck is my small stream system to carry all of my dry flies for the SNP. The old Richardson is for fishing the river. The new Richardson carries all of my dry flies, midges, nymphs and streamers; the foam system makes it easy to change out depending on the hatch or stream, and the Downs is my specialty boxes for Shad and Steelhead or a one box system if I need to go light.


Joe E