How do you organize your flies?

When I started fly fishing, I was doing good to have enough flies that my (only) box didnt look empty. When I started tying, I expanded to 2 boxes, one for proven patterns and one for 'experiments'. Now, I've got a box for eggs, 2 for nymphs, 2 for streamers, and 2 for dries...plus one for 'experiments', special purpose selections, or a small assortment to lend a friend for a day on the water.

I'm getting to the point though that I'm starting to lose track of what flies are where, and trying to split the difference between having rows of duplicate PTs, buggers, etc. and just having 2 each of a wide variety.

With winter soon upon us, I have most of the flies I think I'll need for winter (last year, from december to february, I used one small box with a few eggs, buggers, and nymphs), and I'm starting to think about changes I want to make for next year.

One idea I've considered is rather than carrying a box for nymphs, for dries, etc. Carrying multiple smaller boxes that are instead suited to hatches. I'd carry one "bread & butter" box with buggers, some generic nymphs, and attractor dries, along with a few streamers, but for the rest, I'd have a small "BWO box" with tiny nymphs in plain, bead, and winged or soft-hackled varieties, and dries tied in catskill, para, and comparadun. Likewise, I'd have a small box like this for most major hatches in my area. For caddis, the small box would contain 1 or 2 larva patterns in appropriate colors (cream, green, cased, etc.), a deep pupa, emergent pupa, and an elk hair dry in the appropriate shade.

This way, as the hatches of spring and summer progressed, I could simply change which boxes I packed, rather than changing out individual flies in a dry box.

Has anyone tried something similar? How did it work for you? Also, I'm interested to hear any other ways you organize your flies.

I think fly boxes are too small. All of them. I would like to find a style that would fit all my flies in two or three boxes (I hate leaving anything behind).

Though I'm not tying them yet, I do have an assortment of dries: both proven patterns and experimentals. I like the plastic, gasket-style, tiny compartment boxes for dries, but they get bulky.

When I start tying the dries early next year, I'm going to get into deep doo doo with space. My problem is I try to carry everything all the time.

I like your logic, but I'm a pack rat and the only solution I've found is to buy more and bigger boxes.

my main boxes. 
 

 

 

 
yes, i'm a big fan of the morell boxes.  super light weight... they float, sort of flexible...
not a fan of the plastic sectional boxes.  they always seem to come open at the wrong time, but they're cheap and i use them mostly for storage of flies. 

Raz, where do you get those sweet boxes with the computer built in? Must be nice to be able to pull up a tutorial streamside.

I too am a fan of the Morells but I do use compartment style boxes for dries, as the foam in the morell boxes tends to kind of smoosh the hackle, compromising its performance on the water.

Thanks everyone who's shared so far, though! Looks like I'm not alone in the way I'm currently set up!

Yes, pics please!

I currently only have 2 boxes one for buggers, and other streamers and a smaller 2 sided one for eggs and nymphs I never had great success or confidence in nymphs until last weekend on the tribs and now Im buying every one I can and trying to tie some! I also would like to see some pics!

What flies produce over and over? I know what mine are. And I am down to about 18 patterns. This covers everything from wets. nymphs, streamers, and drys. The important thing is to have a wide size range with every pattern. You will drive your self nuts with to many patterns. Pulling box after box out of your vest. And nothing is working. Pretty soon you just have that blank stare.

Do not over think yourself. The bottom line is presentation.

A pattern close to what the trout are taking. Well fished. Will produce better results. Then the perfect imitation fished poorly.

I try to keep it simple. And work on presentation and casting.

I suppose organization to me meens less flys.

ORIGINAL: razmatazz05

you know those flies are in the box backwards...

really?

now ya tell me...

Just spin it around and you're good to go.

Great question and very impressive responses.

1) Storage at home -- I use the big plastic boxes with movable dividers and keep them in a piece of "fishing luggage" that I spose was intended to be stuffed with lures and taken aboard a boat. I keep this fly collection (tied by me) on the bottom of a book shelf. I have a box for fresh water streamers, another for nymphs and wets, a third for dries and #4 is the place for any small fly that would tend to get lost in the other boxes. Some may puzzle about storing, let's say a #20 ant with #14, 16 and 18 ants. My solution is that 14#+ flies get stored together and #16- flies get stored together. So my storage division is based on 1) types of fly and 2) size of fly.

2) Carrying -- I noticed that during the course of a trip astream I typically relied on, maybe, a dozen flies. So, I saw a reason to carry with me a couple dozen, since my fly boxes are built for that. (i.e., if your box can carry 100 flies there's no reason to strictly limit yourself to 12). But I avoid carrying multiple boxes with hundreds of flies most of which I won't use.

Generally I prefer 2 or three smaller to one very large box. This is based largely on comfort. I still like my ancient Perrine boxes. For very small flies I use a thin, clear plastic box with foam on the bottom. I can load it with teeny flies, eyeball the contents without opening, select and go from there. But I'm working on a home-made idea to store small flies with tippets attached using circular cutouts from old file folders. I prefer my LL Bean leather wallet for streamers, primarily because it holds and displays a lot of streamers with pockets for leaders, and it looks terrific. Some anglers are quick to offer a sermonette on the several disadvantages of wool and leather streamer wallets, but I like mine. There's a place for tradition, I think.

Well, that's the way I do it. Might be a little different come spring.

I use several good size boxes. 14 or 15 if I remember correctly.   Each box is set up for different things and has room for multiple flies of the same pattern.  That way depending on what water or species I fish for I only need to carry a few boxes or sometimes only one.  For example I have 3 steelhead boxes, (1 box is nymphs and eggs, 2nd box is streamers and buggers, 3rd box is the more traditional stuff, truders, tubes, speys, etc.).  I also have a few of the cheap single sided ripple foam on the tying table that I put new patterns or other experiments in until I try them out a few times and then find a permanent home in my main boxes.  Also use a big plastic box with dividers for extra flies that I always use, such as buggers, adams, etc. that way I can just put a few in my box when needed instead of spending my time constantly tying to replace what I lose.  For me the best way to organize my stash is to set up a box for one thing and then get another box for something else.  That way when I go fishing I can grab what I need.  I use to carry everything with me when I go but that got kinda old fast. 

Here are some pics of the ones I make, they are made with polyester impregnated canvas outer with a velcro closure and a sherpa wool inner that is backed so that the hooks do not become tangled in the wool backing. There are three sizes with wool ranging from 6"X8" (folded 6"X4"), 8"X12" (folded8"X4"), and 10"X18" (folded10"x6") which fold in half or thirds for easy storage. If you have any questions pm me.

DarDys (seems weird to be addressing you by the new name),

That's very very similar to what I'm considering doing. Do you have any tips or suggestions for ways to make this system work better right from the get-go? Any particular boxes you prefer?

Depending on box size that I settle on, groupings could be as general as your "light colored mayflies" or "big dark mayflies" or even "stoneflies" (all of em)...or as specific as "isonychia" "grannom" or "small sulphur" (cant recall the latin on those at the moment, but its all the same at the tying bench).

i knew you'd recognize that fly. cant find it anywhere these days.

ya i had lost and found it a few times... i still think i'll find it in my trunk, wader bag, fly bins, or puppy's stomach... until then, i'd like some more for the spring.