Fly fishing has provided no end of learning. Seems like there's some "ah-ha!" every time. I love to learn new things, so this has been very rewarding.The evidence of my learning has been the progression of my fly boxes. At first, bought a cheap one and stuffed everything in it. Then two things happened -- got too many flies, and figured out that waterproof fly boxes are worth the extra money.
By this time, I'd learned the difference between "dry" and "wet" flies. So started the first re-shuffling. Then I started getting more serious about steelhead, which triggered the addition of a steelhead box. After that a big bug box for streamers. Also poppers for bass on lakes, as well as some BIG flies for muskie. And, then mid-summer I discovered terrestrials -- hoppers, ants, spiders and other stuff that floats in the river and entices those mid-day summer fish to have a taste.
Did a re-org -- again -- this weekend. It's now mostly by species/location. So here's the current inventory. Standard size boxes are Scientified Anglers two-sided System X boxes, larger are Orvis or Cliff's.
- All-purpose trout box: dries on one side, nymphs (and split shot and indicators) on the other.
- Steelhead box: eggs on one side, nymphs on the reverse.
- Terrestrial box: all manner of earth-bound stuff that can fall in the river. Orvis Toon Hoppers are my current faves.
- Streamer box: big trout streamers, muskie streamers, and some mice for late-night mousin'.
- Lake box: assortment of large and small poppers for largemouth bass on lakes.
- Huron box: assortment of hex and terrestrials that are working for smallmouth on the Huron river.
- Leftover box: some salmon flies mixed in with some oddballs and other mutts.
This system seems to work pretty well for me. I can grab 1-2 boxes, throw them in my vest and be ready to go on fairly short notice. It's also easy to tell what I'm running low on.
-Sean-
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