Getting Organized

[midger]

Winter—a time to refill flyboxes with the flies you’ve lost over the previous season, get more organized, and label boxes in case you happen to lose one on stream or at the lake. This won’t necessarily insure you get a lost box back, but I can guarantee that without labelling your boxes, your chances of recovery virtually drop to zero unless you get very, very lucky.

I carry my flyboxes in a large plastic bin, and within that bin, I place boxes within gallon or two gallon Ziploc bags that are labelled for specific fishing requirements. These bags are labelled for: Streamers, large nymphs/general purpose boxes, Mayflies (Pinks, PMDs, BWOs, etc), Caddis, Terrestials/Worms/Eggs, Salmon/Steelhead, Midge, and even bags for specific rivers I fish Like the O, SFB, etc.

By placing your name and contact info on a tag with the box, you can perhaps increase the odds of recovery. Here’s an example of a river specific General purpose nymph/dry box for the SFB. I’ve whited out the address and phone number, but they’re all on the label and then the label is covered with packing tape to make it waterproof.




Here’s a midge box that gets used on the Lower O and also the O up in Kansas area—you can see the small contact label on the inside of the box under the fly type label:



Granted many folks aren’t flyaholics like I am, so you may own that many flyboxes, but ask yourself, do you really want to lose any of them with a slim chance of ever getting them back?

[Dry Fly Rie]

Great point/suggestion/reminder, Mike. My fly inventory is much smaller than yours, but I do think I'll spend some time this winter organizing my gear in the garage. I've got a dedicated spot for everything, but now I need to put up some shelves/cabinets and start going through old stuff to see what to keep/toss. I guess if I can't go fishing, I might as well think about fishing...

[WanderingBlues]

OCD and fly fishing- a partnership over 200 years old.

[flybob]

So Mike, apparently you have a lot of success with PINK Tungsten? LOL!

good job, on the organization.

I have tried it a couple of times, but after awhile all the boxes end up looking the same, variety wise?
So for the most part, I have two categories.....BIG-ASS FLIES, and everything else.

As I now have more time available, I am tying like crazy, so better organization is going to be a MUST.

Thanks for sharing.

[BrownBear]

I organize about the same way, but with a twist. Since my wife fishes with me and we're often joined by friends, I tie and organize into big compartmented "stock boxes" as I call them. Then all of us fill from those at the start of a day. One of the big bonuses is that none of us have to carry so many fly boxes on our bodies.

Yeah, sometimes we have to go back to the truck for refills or to pick up a pattern someone else found working, but it sure simplifies life- both on the water and especially for this tyer surveying for low stock. Kinda handy too, to have a box of experiments for folks to try out. Stretch the test force, if you will.

[midger]

Brownbear,
I also have a number of the larger stock boxes that feed the smaller flyboxes. These boxes are 7" by 11" and have 21 compartments, and are for steelhead flies, nymphs, midges, etc. I also create boxes for guests from these stock boxes.

I guess it's like WB says--OCD, but I enjoy breaking the code and getting a take on one of my flies. I rarely carry more than 3-4 boxes on the stream, and even then usually only fish 8-10 patterns depending on what's working. Sometimes it's fun to see how many patterns fish will actually hit though. Many times fish aren't nearly as selective as folks would think.

[briansII]

Must be nice to be able to find specific flies for specific places. Clearly you have that dialed in.

Me, it could take hours.....even days, to find flies I have scattered around. Very frustrating. I'll get around to organizing my selection....right after I finish organizing my gear.

briansII