Thin fly boxes and hackle, etc. When are boxes too thin?

[joseywales]

I have a few of the Orvis super thin fly boxes. These are great for just sliding into my chest pockets, which is what I seem to prefer right now. These are great for nypmhs and most "flat" or small flies. I wouldn't put an Adams in there, because it would flatten the hackle (I believe).

I put woolys in there, should be ok?

Streamers seem fine in there as well.

What I want to know is: when is a box too thin? So what flies would you never put into a box that when closed makes contact with your flies? Basically, they won't "recover" from being flattened and how important is that?

 

[Heritage-Angler]

OJW - Everyone is different, but for me, all my hackled flies go in compartment style boxes. It's a little messier, but keeps the hackle from getting matted down.

A little trick you can use for restoring matted hackle is to put them into a screen mesh kitchen strainer, and hold it over a pot of boiling water - or better yet, a tea kettle. Let the steam hit the flies.

In seconds, the hackle pops right back to it's original shape. Works great on deer hair winged dries too.

 

[troutpoop]

I have several thin boxes. Looking around I have found some from LL Bean, Orvis and a nice selection from Feather Craft. I use them for flies sizes 18 and smaller if using for dries. I also have a pretty large one with slots for nymphs, holds over 200 if I recall. The flies are well protected, visible through the lid and easily packable. When using larger dries I go with DeWitt boxes.

 

[ryguyfi]

I've tried just about everything and the compartments are the way to go for dries. I'm still trying to find a double sided spring loaded compartment box for a reasonable price. Right now I have 4 small boxes that are labeled for certain hatches all with individual compartments.

 

[barbless]

I have a cheapo solution for a deep compartment dry fly box- go to a drug store and find the section for pill boxes.

Some of the boxes will be multi-compartment, to hold 7, 14, 28 days worth of pill assortments. Some of them work better than others. I avoid boxes that are too big, that use a common lid instead of separate latched compartments, that have compartments that are too small, that have shaded color compartments that you can't see into, or that use cheap latches that might open without much pressure and accidentally spill your files.

The ones I prefer have clear and rectangular compartments, with seven separately opening ones in a single row, use a nice size plastic press latch (about thumb width) on each separate compartment, and they're deep and wide enough to hold at least one #6 Royal Wulff without squashing the hackles. They're about $7-$8 per box. Better than any spring compartment box or foam box I've ever used. Those go into my shoulder bag.

I also like to carry a smaller multi-compartment pill box or two, in a size that fits into a shirt pocket. The compartments on the ones I've found in that size aren't as large, but they'll fit dry flies up to about size 12. Important to find one with good snap latches. I pre-select my favorites for a given day and put them in the shirt pocket box. Ideally, that should be the only fly box I need to use on the stream. In theory, anyway.

Always a good idea to store the flies you've changed out and snipped off while fishing in unused compartments, and be sure to open the boxes up and let them air out to dry when you're done...

Also important to carry the tools to complete the task: scissors, needle nose pliers to mash barbs, hook file, great big ole obvious needle threader, and bodkin to open up obstructed hook eyes (although the point of another hook usually works pretty well).

If I fished tricos and other micros, I'd probably want one of those C&R midge boxes with the set of threaders, to have those invisible things all set up to tie on to the tippet. But for anything down to size #20, my usual boxes work fine.