How to Choose a Fly Box

Fly boxes have really advanced over the past few years, and they remain a staple for your fly fishing gear. Though there are many options available, you can narrow down the best option by considering a few factors. Use our guide to learn how to choose a fly box for your different types of flies.

1. Box Designs

Fly boxes have different designs based on their intended use. The two primary factors of fly box design are how the flies are held inside the box and the exterior box material.

Box Interior

There are a few ways to hold onto your flies inside your box. Clips are available but not quite the best way to hold onto your flies, minus some salmon and wet flies. Foam has many uses in giving you a place to insert the hook point, or slits and openings to slip in the bend.  However, silicone has come out the last couple years as a more sturdy alternative to foam. It's used in many of the same ways as foam but doesn't degrade over time.  Look at all these options before choosing your next box.

Materials

Fly box materials are distinguished by weight, versatility, and style. Most fly boxes are made from wood, plastic, or metal, and each materials has distinct advantages and disadvantages. 

• Wood: Though wood is heavy and lack versatility, they look incredible. I've seen many with burnt or engraved images on them and can be customized for the angler. If you're an experience fly fisher, it's nice to have one wooden box to show off your favorite flies.
• Metal: Metal fly boxes are incredibly durable and are significantly lighter than wood, but they're prone to rusting. I prefer the ones with the flip open containers inside.  This allows me to put a few dry flies in there without crushing hackles.
• Plastic: As the most popular option, plastic boxes are lightweight and have tons of options that include foam, silicone, clips, containers, magnetic bottoms, and waterproofing. They're also inexpensive with lots of size and style options, making them perfect for all experience levels. 

2. Box Organization

I like to keep my boxes organized by the type of flies I have, rather than just a huge mix of everything.  For instance, I have a regular nymph box, Czech nymph box, several dry fly boxes sorted by hatch, small stream box, egg boxes for salmon and steelhead, trout streamer box, salmon and steelhead streamer box, bass box, saltwater box, and so forth. Organization isn't for everyone but I bet most of you would really benefit by organizing your flies in your boxes a little bit better.

Here's a few tips on picking the best box for your next one (or 10) and advice on how to organize the flies in them.

• Dries: Find a box with enough room for your hackles to not get crushed.  Nothing worse than spending time tying a good dry and picking it out of your box looking like a squashed bug. Get a good box with some clearance, or containers that make room for those hackles.
• Nymphs: These are somewhat the easiest of flies to organize, and they're easy to store in bulk. I prefer the swing leaf, or slim boxes to hold a bunch of flies and reduce the amount of space they take up.  Also check out the magnetic bottom for those flies sizes 20 and smaller.
• Streamers: Streamers are large flies, making them a challenge to organize. For your basic streamers up to size 2, medium to large boxes with slits allow you to put different sizes of streamers in the same box. For really large boxes there are specific systems out there to hold those big musky and saltwater flies. You can get away with some of the bigger briefcase boxes too.

You can also use the basic plastic boxes you see from regular tackle boxes, to large briefcase boxes that can hold tons of flies and are easier to carry in a pack or onto a boat. Sometimes if you can't find what you're looking for, you can also customize your own box from something you may find at a craft or hardware store.

Ramblings by:

Ryan Gouldsbarry

Owner of Risen Fly