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 wefishcane |
Fly box/case organization |
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Posts: 629 04/13/2008 22:21 |
I finally got tired having my 1000 plus flies in several different boxes of various sizes and shapes. This weekend I dumped all the flies on the desk, sorted
them out and am now looking for a system that makes sense. I'm temped to invest in the C&F foam fly box system and would be interested if this
approach has worked well for you, or if there is a more effective and efficient system out there.
Jim |
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thegubster |
Yes....to the C&F system! | #1 | ||
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Posts: 1196 04/14/2008 08:17 |
Jim,
It just so happens that I pretty much did what you are considering. This was a couple seasons ago. When I was new to the sport, lets say around a decade ago, I got "floored" by the amt. of flies I was learning I'd need. I replaced some really cheap plastic boxes with a few better plastic Flambeau boxes. They worked well, still could I guess but now I use them for extra fly storage etc. Long story there... Well, I found the C&F boxes and have been well satisfied. If I'd found them at the outset, I'd never have purchased them due to the expense. I can still understand that feeling. Due to some good fortune, I found an add where a fellow had a bunch of used boxes for sale, on top of the few I'd bought. Plus he had that C&F large, flat storage container to include 6 "pages" for interchanging between different hatches. I jumped on the sale before they were taken and didn't appreciate the price break until I itemized them out. And wow, what a system! My only regret is that C&F didn't allow for 3 "pages" to get snapped in/out rather than the two. It would've been nice to have one snap into the middle....but I can live with that. I'm still finding things out about the options but it's been a very much appreciated move on my part. Unfortunately I'm realizing I'm a lousy housekeeper regarding flies and knowing my hatches. Aside from the obvious hatches occurring I take a lot of flies with me on outings. It says much about my organization but it's much better now, for having done just what you're describing! Good luck with your decision. I think it's well worth it. Jeremy. |
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mer |
#2 | |||
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Posts: 2949 04/14/2008 08:37 |
Big hat, with a hat band. Divide into quadrants. One for dries, one for nymphs, one for streamers, one for terrestrials. Size decreases as you go clockwise,
color goes from dark to light counter clockwise. Keeps you from carrying more flies than you actually need, also makes a great conversation starter when you
stop and get a cup of coffee. You can also add attachments to carry leaders and spools of tippet very easily.
Here's what I've been using for the past little bit. They seem to work well enough for me, I usually have one with dries in one pocket, another with nypmhs/wets/a few streamers in the other. I also go and keep Altoids tins; toss experimental or very small flies in them (put some self stick magnet strips on the bottom) they don't take up much room in the vest. But keep in mind, I'm more of a "generalist" (if it generally works I'll use it). I like fly tying, but I don't get hung up too much on exact matching. http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Scientific_Anglers/Fly-Fishing/Products/FlyBoxes/SystemX/
The north side of my town faced east, and the east was facing south
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 tiptop |
C&F . . . .Great! | #3 | ||
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Posts: 228 04/14/2008 09:03 |
If there's a better system than C&F, I'd like to see it. After 6 yrs. of fly fishing, I made the switch two years ago and it has been an
unbelievable improvement. I am so much better organized now. I keep ALL my nymphs in one small box with a divider and can instantly find whatever I'm
looking for. The slit foam hook "keepers" really work and I don't have loose flies rattling around ready to drop out when the box is opened.
I've labeled the outside of the boxes with general descriptions such as "caddis", "sulphurs", "adams" etc. Yes, the boxes are
expensive, but IMO the cost is very easy to justify. IMO, this is not like trying to decide between a $200 Orvis reel and a $2000 Bogdan -- the Orvis is just
as functional. It's more like choosing a pocket calculator over an abacus and in light of the cost of the typical bamboo rod, it's insignificant. In
case you can't tell, I luv'm!
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johnr |
#4 | |||
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Posts: 93 04/14/2008 09:27 |
I like the Richardson chest box
I use the three tray system but your best bet would be to go minimalist, just fish a size 16 adams and send me the rest of your flies....:-) |
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Boonut |
#5 | |||
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Posts: 115 04/14/2008 10:28 |
I went round and round with fly boxes. Just like I did with ways to fly fish. Dries, wets, nymphs, and streamers. It finally sunk in that fishing dry flies on small streams is what I love. So much so, that it's all I do now. Lucky for me that dries works on small streams almost always. When it doesn't, who cares? I'm still out on a beautiful stream. That can't ever be a bad thing.
With that said. I only need one fly box. I went for the large C&F box 7.5"x 4". It holds 288 flies. Dries being bushy I can't get that many in it, but still more than enough room. I usually carry 4 of each pattern/size. I have all the extra flies I've tied at home in containers, and as I use them up on the stream I fill the slots back up at night. Some guys seem to carry every fly they've tied which makes no sense to me.
I try to simplify everything in my life, and I finally feel I've done that with my flies and fly fishing. It's not for everybody, but it works fine for me. |
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Ken M 44 |
#6 | |||
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Posts: 2367 04/14/2008 12:01 Immoderatus Britannicus |
Another C&F fan here - I have a lot of the 1506F boxes, mostly bought new but cheap on ebay (at the end of the season) over the last few years. I sort by
type then by pattern and have a 'fishing box' which is a mixture of what I am using at any given time, used flies go on my vest patch and never back in
the boxes, the main storage boxes stay in the car (just in case).
I also have a small Wheatley box on a lanyard that holds about 50 small stream flies for when I get to fish without a waistcoat. |
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pvansch1 |
#7 | |||
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Posts: 3533 04/14/2008 13:35 Moderator |
Like the haat and hat band routine, except now with all the barbless regulations everytime the wind blows there seems to be a fantastic hatch going on
downstream and I got no flies to fish it with. LOL
I've been using the Okuma aluminum boxes with the flip top windows, I like them, except I would rather have the foam side instead of the clips. Pete |
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mvbrooks |
Fly organization | #8 | ||
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Posts: 1642 04/14/2008 14:36 |
I use an Okuma box, too. I like the 16 compartment box with the foam in the lid for my small and medium flies and have one of the 10 compartment foam in lid
boxes for larger flies. Two boxes are everything I need anywhere in North America or Europe! These are the patterns I carry and use, day in and out. There are
five of each in these boxes:
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moregrayling |
tupper fly boxes? | #9 | ||
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Posts: 760 04/14/2008 14:41 |
sorry, no vote for c&f here. for me, the rotobox is the bees knees.
best from "krautland", 
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dale |
#10 | |||
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Posts: 311 04/14/2008 16:04 |
I have contemplated going to C&F completely. I have a small swingleaf and a large waterproof with an additional divider. These two supplement four
Wheatleys (three of them swingleafs) on the stream. I carry a lot of flies. But with the number of flies I have, I dread having to move the flies over to new
fly boxes, so I haven't yet.
Call me obsessive compulsive, but I have put all my flies into an Excel Spreadsheet so I can make sure I know where to find my "extra inventory" when I need to replenish my on-the-stream boxes. I use about 15 Myran divided boxes to carry my extra inventory. PITA to do the data entry, but once done, it is fairly easy to keep up to date. I have columns for name, style, color, size, vendor (and stock # if there is one), the box it is in, which "page" of the box, which column/row of the box, quantity, a column to check if I need to purchase, whether I have already debarbed, and any other notes. I can sort and resort depending on what I need. I figure that one day I will go completely to C&F, and that spreadsheet will help immensely. Dale |
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PkwyAngler |
#11 | |||
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Posts: 179 04/14/2008 17:43 |
In five decades of fly fishing, I have used/owned many of the different commercial fly boxes that have come to market at one time or other, i.e. Perrine, Wheatly, Dewitt, Myran, Morell, Marriot, Sci-Anglers, Richardson tray box, assorted P.E. compartmented snap top boxes, etc. but I have to agree that the CFC Micro-split foam configured boxes stand out in both performance and organization. I too have seemingly migrated mostly to utilizing these boxes in the past few years. I do however carry anyone of the fore mentioned boxes from time to time as a throw back to my roots.
As others have suggested, the key to fly organization and becoming a minimalist is learning your hatches (insects), their seasonality, and the waters you fish. This permits you to organize your flies cyclically, based on the dominate food source during a specific period on your waters. This ultimately allows you to reduce the overall number of flies you need carry with you during each adventure a stream. I know this is contrary to our logic that carrying more is better… just in case X insect appears. We sometimes feel naked w/o a full arsenal of flies, even if the flies are past their prime as a hatch. This tenet was preached by Fred Arbona in his book, "Mayflies, the Angler and the Trout", Winchester Press, circa 1980… and others as well.
I myself opted not to use the CFC File System with replaceable inserts but went with their fixed insert boxes in different configurations. I found these to be somewhat lighter overall, more rigid when inserting or removing flies to their slits, and more cost effective since you don't end with a number of unusable loaded inserts for lack of outer casings… should an insect hatch be delayed and become concurrent with a later one. Perhaps the ability to mix & match insert plates might be a driver for the System, but it escaped me somehow.
My favorite CFC box for consolidating flies (when fly height is not an issue) is the CFC1506F (12 row with 12 row flip page). It holds nearly ~480 flies and is incremental in weight VS the equivalence of two CFC boxes.
So far, the Micro-Split foam box seems to be a great design! |
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johnhungerford |
#12 | |||
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Posts: 2 04/14/2008 17:58 |
I have a habit of losing my balance on slick rocks and doing the full flop, completely under including my hat.. After the umpteenth time of taking all the
flies out to be sure they dry and don't rust in the wet fly box, I decided I had to go waterproof. At the time, C&F was the clear leader in waterproof
fly boxes so I got some of them (basically went wild on Ebay) including the nymph box with the little compartments for weights and indicators. I really like
all of them with one minor complaint and that is that the waterproof boxes are larger than their other boxes and are almost to the "too big" stage.
Not satisfied with cornering the C&F market, I decided to go nuts with the System X boxes, also waterproof. They are more like the right size, but I love
the slits in the C&F boxes. However, the System X boxes are transparent so I can easily pick the right one. For my $0.02 worth, I recommend both C&F
and Sys X. I'd really like to have their storage pages too, but they are kinda pricey and the budget just won't allow it.
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SnooKen |
#13 | |||
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Posts: 575 04/14/2008 19:46 |
I tried Mer's hat suggestion, once. After 45 minutes my buddies had to carry me back to the truck and drive me to the chiropractor. He said 23 pounds of
gear on my hat was too much.
Ken |
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mer |
#14 | |||
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Posts: 2951 04/15/2008 06:31 |
Sorry Ken, I forgot to mention that the hat idea works best for those that fish exclusively for brook trout. Pike and Saltwater flies are too big and heavy.
Oh, and wrapping sinking leaders around the brim is not the best way to carry them.
The north side of my town faced east, and the east was facing south
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Soft Hackle |
#15 | |||
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Posts: 1023 04/15/2008 07:16 |
I have 2 small perrines for wets and several clear DeWitt plastic boxes for my dry flys. One is the old Cortland version with green felt liner. I love DeWitt
style boxes for drys as the compartments are deep and the hackles are never compressed in any way. The boxes weigh nothing and are very high quality, also
being clear I can easily find the right one. I generally carry 2 or 3 of them on the stream.
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Soft Hackle |
#16 | |||
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Posts: 1024 04/15/2008 09:51 |
That is an aspect I overlooked in making my recommendation Inspector. I will fill a couple DeWitts with assorted dries tonite and make several passes over
each box in the Hummer. I will report on my findings tomorrow.
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mer |
#17 | |||
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Posts: 2952 04/15/2008 10:07 |
Do you realize the amount that you are going to contribute to global warming with that experiment? I think you need to buy some carbon offsets from me.
The north side of my town faced east, and the east was facing south
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BobS |
#18 | |||
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Posts: 863 04/15/2008 10:26 |
C&F all the way. Need only two of the small size swing-leaf models. One each in the inboard vertical pockets of my G3 jacket. Tippet in outboard
pockets.
The two C&F boxes go in a small belt pouch for hot-weather fishing. The pouch with a few things on a lanyard are all I need. Would like to see small C&F box with clips for two inserts on swing-leaf as well as on main body of box. |
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Soft Hackle |
#19 | |||
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Posts: 1025 04/15/2008 13:18 |
A magnanimous gesture Mer, an experiment of this nature does convey an element of moral conflict with it. Do you accept Paypal?
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mer |
#20 | |||
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Posts: 2953 04/15/2008 13:19 |
No, I sell in units of Oban.
The north side of my town faced east, and the east was facing south
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