Jump to content
Fly Tying
Fish For Life

How man boxes do you bring

Recommended Posts

When your having a day on the river how many fly boxes do you usually bring with you. I know that every situation is going to be different, but for this question lets say you are wading in a trout stream. You have all your normal gear that you would usually bring along (waders and boots, rod and reel, vest/some kind of pack etc). How many fly boxes would you bring with you? i would guess that most people would bring along a nymph box, dry box, streamer box, and one other depending on the situation. How good was that guess? How many and what kind of boxes do you bring??

 

Thanks

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

one or two, three tops. I have a couple Cliff's Super Days Worth boxes that I have loaded with generic patterns, I may grab a specialized dry fly box (midge, x-large or terrestrial) and I may grab a streamer box with bigger meat.

 

for the past two years I have fished mostly warm water. For that I carry two or three as well - musky box (XX-large streamers), bass/panfish box (smaller streamers and some poppers) and dry fly box (frogs and mice).

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

i have carried around 12-15 fly boxes in my vest and also carried a bunch of the large thingamabobbers to help keep me afloat in case i fell in

 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Usually 3 -- dries, wets/nymphs and streamers. That's everywhere except on the Au Sable when the hatches are on--there I bring those three, plus one empty one for all the flies I'll buy at the fly shop.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Normal day will find...

 

1- Orvis metal dry fly box (right front pocket)

2- Small plastic nymph box left front pocket

3- Lightweight Orvis crushable box with streamers (2nd right front pocket)

4- Lightweight Orvis crushable box with stimulators and hoppers etc (2nd left front pocket)

5- Lightweight Orvis crushable box with misc flies (in zipper back pocket)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Depends on the target species and the number of techniques I might (not "will" but "might") use that day. Could be anywhere from zero to six. The embarrassing part is when fully loaded, the total number of flies carried is silly...but I rarely find myself without the "right" fly...although finding it sometimes can take a bit of effort.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

In my boat, I have a small tackle box that has all of my boxes in it. I have one with large flies, one with small flies, one with minnow and dragon fly flies (really big flies) and one with odd flies I really didn't like coming off the vise.

 

When I wade/shore fish, I take one Plano box with a few of each type of fly I might want to use, hanging on my lanyard.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I should add that I typically carried 5-6 boxes when I used a traditional fishing vest. Vests always left me with achy neck and shoulders, so I went through pretty much every type of pack ever made and finally settled (for now) on the sling pack--specifically the Fishpond "Blue River" pack. One of the many things I like about it is that it limits the number of boxes I can carry, which forces me to put more thought into a) what I'll actually need to bring on any given day, and b ) how I should organize it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I've gotten more into the minimalist type when I'm on the water. Like Bryon stated, I found that my neck and shoulders were getting sore when I overloaded my vest with a bunch of stuff that I never used. (I usually stuffed a few beers in it too, just in case I got thirsty) I now wear a lanyard that has my tools and a tiny fly box on it that I keep nymphs in, and I've got a bunch of other boxes that will fit in my shirt pockets. I only take 2 at a time, and which one depends on which river I'm fishing and at which time of the year I'm fishing it. I've found that with 3 boxes on me while I'm wading, I still don't use half of what I brought. (As far as the getting thirsty part, I now keep a flask in my pants pocket filled with a good bourbon to go along with a cigar)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I try to only carry 2 or 3 on the water, but I have about 35 in my car most of the time, but that's more because I fish for anything and everything, so I just keep all my fly boxes in the car and grab what I think I'll need for the day when I get on the water.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It really doesn't matter! No matter how many boxes I bring along I can usually blunder into a hatch I haven't got a fly for. Usually one box with dries in one side with nymphs and wets in the other side. Often a small plastic container with a few streamers in, that will not fit in the main box. However I can fail to catch with any number of boxes. I'm good at that!

Cheers,

C.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
That's why I use a lot of the crushable Orvis boxes now. I'm not a big Orvis fan but those foam boxes they have are light as a feather and don't add any weight to a vest http://www.orvis.com/store/product.aspx?pf_id=37GT

I like the Orvis boxes, too. I also like the Morell (sp?) foam boxes, but my favorites are the foam boxes sold under the brand name "Fly-Case". They're hard to find, but they are wonderfully light, spacious and cheaper than either Orvis or Morell. smile.png

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...

×
×
  • Create New...