Organizing Dubbing

[tctrout]

Organizing our fly tying materials is something that is always changing for most of us. I have many systems in place, some of which I really like, and others that I've had just semi-success with.

For this fly tying tutorial, I briefly examine some organizational methods for dubbing (specifically nymph), and conclude by sharing the system I utilize.

Feel free to share any system(s) you use that you've had success with; this is an area that we don't spend a lot of time discussing, though one that can pay dividends went setup correctly.

TC

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_D3yNGzXIDs[/youtube]

 

[SBecker]

Such you're a public school teacher, you probably have some of these laying around.


I travel a lot for competitons and need to be able to take my materials with me on the road. I used to do the ziplock bags, but found myself searching through them and wasting too much time. I went to this system after Loren Williams showed it to me and I was amazed at its simplicity and organization. He credits Devin Olsen showing it to him at Worlds. I have a binder filled with dubbings organized by type of dubbings (Ice Dub, Squirrel, Hares Ear, Dry) then those are broken down to color. I then have a binder filled with other types of materials like cdc, thin skin, ect.

 

[nfrechet]

the small amount of dubbing shown above seems to work for me and takes care of my tying needs. i'm not a commercial tyer and i only tie for my needs and a few swaps now and then.

i used to hoard material but have since pared down to the bare minimum. i had materials from the 80's that never got used!

you cant put it all on the hook at the same time :lol:

use whatever system suits the materials you have on hand

 

[duckfoot]

I bought a flat of Mason jars, and the box + cardboard divider fits perfectly to vertically index all my colors.

 

[Chaz]

My dubbing is quite simple, like me, I have it all in a box and it's organized by color. I start with white and it goes through all the colors you can find and ends with black. No need to make it complicated. It all stays in bags and the box has cedar chips in it.

 

[afishinado]

I've used the binder thing for quite some time. I use plastic binder pages that hold business cards and store dubbing in each pouch. In my binder, I have a section for natural dubbing, nymph, dry, etc. Easy to carry on the road, too.

 

[FrequentTyer]

afishinado wrote:
I've used the binder thing for quite some time. I use plastic binder pages that hold business cards and store dubbing in each pouch. In my binder, I have a section for natural dubbing, nymph, dry, etc. Easy to carry on the road, too.

Same here. It also works great for packs of hooks.

 

[tctrout]

Thanks for all of the great pics and ideas to share; like I mentioned in the video, there really is not a perfect system that works for everyone, yet it's great to share ideas to see what may help with organization overall.

TC

SBecker wrote:
Such you're a public school teacher, you probably have some of these laying around.

I travel a lot for competitons and need to be able to take my materials with me on the road. I used to do the ziplock bags, but found myself searching through them and wasting too much time. I went to this system after Loren Williams showed it to me and I was amazed at its simplicity and organization. He credits Devin Olsen showing it to him at Worlds. I have a binder filled with dubbings organized by type of dubbings (Ice Dub, Squirrel, Hares Ear, Dry) then those are broken down to color. I then have a binder filled with other types of materials like cdc, thin skin, ect.

 

[carl]

I would love to see how you organize your hackle. With the cost of a good saddle and it's odd size, they seem to be more of a challenge than other items.

Of course I'm organizationally challenged to begin with.

Being organizationally challenged, I have moved to having a 1 or 2 gallon zip lock that is just (I've got to put this away sometime). At least the items don't stack up on my desk as much.

Carl

 

[nfrechet]

carl wrote:
I would love to see how you organize your hackle.

i keep all my capes/necks and saddles in their original packaging and stored in a 41 quart under bed size plastic container as shown below. plenty of room and they all lay flat. no curling. no stinky mothballs either.

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[tctrout]

carl wrote:
I would love to see how you organize your hackle. With the cost of a good saddle and it's odd size, they seem to be more of a challenge than other items.

Of course I'm organizationally challenged to begin with.

Being organizationally challenged, I have moved to having a 1 or 2 gallon zip lock that is just (I've got to put this away sometime). At least the items don't stack up on my desk as much.

Carl

Carl,

My hackle is organized in drawers of a dresser that I keep in my fly tying room. The hackle is grouped by style (i.e. hen, saddle, etc.), and then sorted by color. Nothing too elaborate there, with the exception that I keep lots of moth balls in those sections!

The hackle that gets used more often is in the front (hen hackle for soft hackles and wet flies), with the saltwater stuff in the back.

TC

 

[outsider]

I prefer organized chaos. It gives me something else to beotch about when I'm tying beside my eyesight and arthritis.

I have 21 shoe box size bins and 9 large bins (plus material all over my fly tying bench) filled with fly tying material. It would take me three years to organize it better. Ain't gonna happen.