I realized this week that I have too many fly boxes. I'm up to a total of 10! I have Umpqua, Morell, Redington, Orvis, Plano, Cortland, and I still felt like I had to pick up a new one this week.
I got the C&F Designs CF1506. It's a small swing-leaf midge box that holds up to 564 flies. It's designed for sizes 16 and smaller. Typically, I would never spend $40-50 on a fly box, but I got a hookup at a certain outfitter and I managed to pick it up for $20. Not a bad deal. I actually picked one up for a Christmas present and I liked it so much I went back and got one for myself.
I bought this box because I think it can allow me to cut down to two boxes for winter fly fishing, especially since the streams I fish rarely require flies bigger than a 16. For trout in the cold weather, I typically carry a nymph box, a junk flies box (eggs and worms),a midge box, a streamer box, and a box for dries and terrestrials. (Other boxes are for steelhead/salmon, bass, carp, panfish, and saltwater). Well, I'm hoping this fly box will allow me to cover midges, nymphs, junk, and dries, which will just leave me with a big box of streamers. I'll start posting pictures as I fill it up over the next week.
I christened it tonight with some Infamous Pink Worms I've been constantly reading about. It seems like about 90% of the pictures of fish I've seen online in the past two weeks have this big worm puncturing their jaw, so I finally broke down and decided to whip up half a dozen. I'm gonna try them out tomorrow to see how well they do vs. a regular old San Juan. One thing's for sure, they are much bigger.
Also, I had my Steelhead and Salmon flies in a big Plano box, which I think is more well suited for streamers. Since my nymphs are gonna head into the new C&F, the Steelhead flies are getting a new home in the Orvis Posi-Grip.
No, Rainbow Bright did not throw up in my fly box, but it sure looks like it.
So, I'm curious to see what everyone else has to say. How many flies boxes do you own? How many do you typically carry? What type? I'm open to suggestions because this tying addiction isn't making fly organization any easier.
I have 2. Not going after trout really narrows down the fly selection though. I will probably get another one soon and convert one into tiny trout flies. I don't know what I would do if I had 11 fly boxes... I would never be able to keep them all straight.
ReplyDeleteI have a C&F box on my Christmas wish list. Hope Santa comes through. What did you use to make your worm pattern?
ReplyDeleteI guess with just going after warm water and saltwater, it's much easier. I'd just have a ton of streamers and poppers.
ReplyDeleteTN - size 16 dry fly hook, pink chenille, orange ice dub, .20 lead wire under the clitelum. You can google it. There's videos, etc to make it easy.
The box looks good...and damn that's a chunky nymph in the corner!
ReplyDeleteAnd i agree, the worm seems to be all the rage right now.
My IPW's are size 14, 16, and 18's. The dubbing I use is pink glo bug yarn dubbed.
ReplyDeleteThe Pink San Juan is my go to fly for carp. A few years ago I ran into an avid carp fisherman and he turned me onto them. There easy to see when intersecting the fly with the carp. I also add wraps of lead.
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