Fly Storage - What do you do?

[Brandon]

Ok, so we gutted our whole house over the last year and did a total renovation. During this time we made the big mistake of living in the house while all the work was done:wacko::nono: During this time our basement and attic became a total mess; yesterday we tackled the basement to straighten it out, which meant I had to get my section with all my fishing stuff straight. I found all sorts of things I have not seen in a long time:)) One of those things were tons of flies from all sorts of trips. I have been searching for the best fly storage systems for years.

For my freshwater flies it's not to hard, I use hard and foam cases to store and transport them. It's easy because the flies are small.

Saltwater flies are another story. I tried all the fly boxes, foam, hard, foam inside, nubby tack inside etc.. The problem with these systems for me is that because the flies are so big you can only get so many in a box and then when you travel you are carrying 10 boxes which makes it difficult. Basically what I resorted to is a few small plastic boxes for silver side and epoxy flies, a small plano box for my 2/0 flies, the box is just long enough, and good old large zip lock plastic bags for all my larger flies. The zip locks work well for traveling because you can get a lot of flies in a small area, but it stinks because you can not see the flies all that well by the time the bag has been folded a bunch of times. Ideally I guess large plano boxes would do, but they are hard to travel with and even hard to keep in the boat.

What system(s) do you use?

Brandon

[bigjim5589]

Brandon, I do the same as you for storage, with various size hard boxes, mostly Plano. But for carrying out on a trip I use a couple of the soft side binders sold for bass lures which have the plastic bags inside. They come in different sizes, and you can add the plastic bags as needed. Each one will hold a lot of flies. BPS has a large one that will hold flies, leaders & other items. Academy Sports also has one they call a Rigging Bag, which holds a lot of stuff. The smaller size binders I have are mostly Plano/Tackle Logic.

I've not found anything that will do it all, but these have worked great for me. :thumbup:

[boondoggle]

I like the Finsport wallets. I bought a medium at Anglers a couple of years ago to use in the kayak; I wanted something to carry a larger but organized selection of flies. Since then I've received a two more mediums as gifts and I want a large to ditch a plano box or two.
http://www.bearsden.com/media/finsportcolors.JPG

[golfinjoe24]

Man, I wish I had your problem!!!
haha

[toddkfly]

Like the finsport wallets for certain flies, but favorite is probably a deep plano box where I glued some ribbed foam to the inside(top and bottom). Larger flies don't get cruched when closed up which is nice. Will try and take a pic when I get back down to the boat later this week.

[spilunkr]

Cliff's a company in Wyoming makes a variety of fly boxes. I first came across their products when I moved out here to Colorado three years ago. I have since started seeing them in various catalogues. I started using the Cliff's "Bugger Barn" for streamers and wooly buggers. Then I came across the Cliff's "Bugger Beast". The two sides are lined with a high density closed cell foam with slits that the hook bend can slide into. Flies are held securely - even large saltwater flies. The Bugger Beast comes in three sizes. I have one medium sized box and it measures roughly 9" by 14" by 3 1/2" thick. For traveling I get about 12 dozen flies from 2" to 7" in length in the Beast. For my saltwater trips I also carry two Bugger Barns (each roughly 5" X 8") which fit in my flats pack quite nicely. One bugger barn holds about 50 clousers 2" to 4" while the other holds about 35 shrimp and crab patterns. The Bugger Barns run around $24 while the Beast runs about $40. The Beast is bright yellow - hard to misplace and quite ruggedly built.

Guy

[ictalurus]

After shelling out $30 for a new fly box for my saltwater stuff, I think I might give this a try:

Fly Art Studio » Homemade Bugger Beast Box (http://flyartstudio.com/wordpress/?p=112#more-112)

[mike cozzens]

Brandon,

I don't mean this answer to sound smart alack...

I was in the local Walgreens the other day and I saw a Pill Box. There were Mon-Sun little flip top containers in each box. I thought it would be so fun to fill each day with a series of freshwater flies. A few nymphs for early AM, a few emergers, a few dry flies, a few cripples and a few spinners. One compartment for each day!

Kind of a "This is my medicine for Wed" type thing.

OK, never mind, I'll go take my meds now..

Mike

[toddkfly]

Brandon,

Here is the box that I retrofit with the ripple foam. Real good cheap way to organize flies.
Welcome to Plano Molding Company - Innovative Storage Solutions - Fishing Tackle Systems, Hunting and Outdoor Storage, Golf Cases and Storage (http://www.planomolding.com/tackle/products.asp)

Here is the foam:Mill Stream Foam Products (http://www.millstreamproducts.com/foamprod.html)

The foam is sticky backed (boat patch)but I would add some spray adhesive if possible. Box is water proof, and can hold a pile of big flies.

Todd

[dalton]

I am quite intrigued by the finsport wallets, an extra large seems like it would hold a great deal of my saltwater and bass patterns and could be practical for carrying on a boat. Also, the large homemade boxes would probably work well and be a cheap alternative--I might stop by the craft store this weekend and try to put one of these together.

But to answer the original question. I use a large variety of methods to carry flies. Small trout flies go in foam boxes, I can normally transport a few patterns from larger boxes into one small box to go in my front pocket for the day. For saltwater and bass, while wade fishing I narrow down my selection significantly into one or two foam boxes. On a boat, I carry a small duffle bag with fly boxes, small plastic tackle boxes with extra long streamers (longer than the "medium" fly boxes, +/- 7" bucktails), and a ziplock gallon bag with more flies.

[jkapl001]

Maybe one of the worm binders that Bass Pro sells would actually work? Not made for it but I think it would do the trick.

[ColdOnTheShoulder]

I buy the Plano compartment boxes for the bigger stuff and make my own "Cliffs" style boxes for Clousers, Decievers, poppers, etc. I go to the craft store and get Art Bin boxes, a couple sheets of 6mm foam, then measure and make the slits and gorilla glue it in.

[Kirk Grassett]

Brandon,
For saltwater flies, I use a tackle binder that is actually made for bass fishing stuff. This is a soft sided bag with multiple ziplock bags on a three ring binder type arrangement. The bags are clear so a given fly can be easily located. I store the flies in separate plastic sleeves within the ziplock bags to prevent tangling and sort them by type (clousers, poppers, crease flies, etc). The sleeves are available at some fly shops such as The Evening Rise in Lancaster, Pa. I can easily carry 12-15+ dozen flies in a 6" x 9" bag. You can also sort the flies by species and remove and replace bags for road trips. Tried various fly boxes over the years and this has worked the best by far.

Hope this helps.

Kirk Grassett

[Brandon]

Thanks for all the feedback. I liked what the one guy did with the Bugger Beast Box. Gave me some ideas I am going to fool around with.

I had forgotten about the bass lure wallets, but they are a good idea as well. I looked at some that were posted which look sweet. I am going to keep my eye out when I am a store and see about possibly using a few of them for when I travel, I think they will be a lot better then the zip lock bag system I have been using:wacko:

Thanks for the feedback and any other ideas are welcome!

Brandon

[ragnad]

A friend of mine uses the old rental-style VHS cases lined with foam

Like these: 15 Plastic Black VHS tape Cases Professional + 1 tape - eBay (item 150392766932 end time Dec-04-09 18:41:22 PST) (http://cgi.ebay.com/15-Plastic-Black-VHS-tape-Cases-Professional-1-tape_W0QQitemZ150392766932QQcmdZViewItemQQptZBI_Bl ank_Media?hash=item23041b81d4)

Or these: 25 VHS Video Cassette Tape Library Case Movie Box CLEAR - eBay (item 380184558241 end time Dec-08-09 15:13:56 PST) (http://cgi.ebay.com/25-VHS-Video-Cassette-Tape-Library-Case-Movie-Box-CLEAR_W0QQitemZ380184558241QQcmdZViewItemQQptZBI_B lank_Media?hash=item5884c3faa1)

[conchy-joe]

Brandon, i encountered this problem several years ago, and decided to make my own fly boxes for storage/ use on a boat/ and travel. The Cliff Bugger Beast boxes are great, but for the price of 1, i found i could make a couple of my own. I wanted to incorporate several features i felt were essential. #1. a waterproof box. #2. Clear, see through material so i could actually see the flies without having to open the boxes.# 3. foam to easily place/ remove flies that allowed enough room to give clearance not to mash up my flies. My solution was to buy large Plano Waterproof Storage boxes.( Guide series Model 3741 ) They have a red rubber seal around the entire lid, with three red durable plastic latches. The box comes with 3 dividers that are removable, basically giving you a large, deep box. The dimensions are roughly 8 1/2 x 13 1/2 x 3 1/2 deep. I purchased Closed Cell Foam at a craft store. it came in 1 1/4 or 1 1/2 inch thickness. I cut those to fit inside the box, and the flies secure nicely, and remove with ease. Depending on the size and type of fly, I can easily fit 6 dozen + flies in each box. On the boat, the flies stay dry, and i can inspect each box to see the contents. For convenience, i keep them stored at home in a rubbermaid tough box. I will try to include pics later.

[Peltz]

For saltwater flies I use the large wallets for most stuff and large hard foam fly boxes for other stuff. Between one large wallet and one large fly box I have a couple hundred flies. Considering I almost always end up using the same four or five patterns I have never felt that I was under prepared.

[Brandon]

conchy-joe

Thanks for the reminder on those waterproof plano boxes, MUCH better option for the box stuff that I do, I forgot they had them, but I can not tell you how many times water has gotten into my other boxes and made a big mess.

Peltz,

I think I am going to explore the wallets as you and others have mentioned. I like you only really use a few patterns, but when I travel I do carry a lot and of different colors because you just never know what you will need:D

[conchy-joe]

Forgot to note, that in the event water does get in the box, you can remove the entire foam insert with flies attached, rinse with fresh water, and because of the closed cell foam, it should dry out overnight, and not rust any hooks on your flies

[fly flinger]

Cut out the plastic center divider. Glue two white 6mm and one colored 2mm foam sheets (Michael's store). Use 3M 77 spray glue to secure the colored 2mm sheet between the other two white 6mm sheets. Cut the three sheets to fit inside the box. Cut off one corner to make removal of the sheets easier. Using an Exacto knife, score parallel lines to hold your flies. Only cut until you see the 2mm colored sheet. DO NOT CUT ALL THE WAY TROUGH the 3 sheets. On one side cut the slits long ways and on the reverse cut the lines on the narrow dimension. Now you can carry very long flies or flip over the foam and carry shorter flies. If you make additional sheets you only need one box. The foam sheets can be stored vertically with flies attached in 8 X 11"copy paper boxes. Most office supply stores are happy to get rid of their empty boxes.

[swampfox]

Hopefully some vendors will bring a variety of fly containers to the TU show at Georgetown Prep next March.

If you use 3M Super 77 spray adhesive then you should be aware of the applicable MSDS, http://www.e-barnett.com/MSDS/003714.pdf. If you do not not know what an MSDS is, then you shouldn't use the spray at all.

Bill

[Capt Frank]

We use fly storage wallets, kinda like zip lock bags, and you can get hundreds of flies in the larger ones. If you want to get fancy put the flies in small plastic tubes then in the wallets. That will keep them neat. Hackle flies that need to remain unbent should go in the boxes.

[fphillips]

I second the "bugger beast". I bought one and filled one side with deceivers and the other with clousers.

[Russonfly]

Brandon, et al,
I have just placed all my various fly storage boxes on the shelf in lieu of the deeper PLANO boxes. I then use individual plastic bags, some are zip-lock style but most are simply open at one end. I keep every fly seperated, and easy to see and get out of the bag and i can carry hundreds of various sizes in these boxes. Life is simple and inexpensive.
tight lines,

[rinky.dink]

Come on guys, we all know this is the only way to store your flys? Why not, I can see in a heartbeat just what flys I have. Joe Bruce (who took the photo) thought it such a neat arrangement he included it in his slide presentation on striper fishing. Truth be known, we were into some nice fish when I upset everything and as you can tell just threw everything in the box.
http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk26/Octorara2008/my-fly-box.jpg?t=1262527489