How many flies do you bring on your boat when fishing? I fish about 95% flies I’ve tied, but never really have more than 2 of a pattern. I usually have small box, 2 dozen or so flies perbox broken down to a couple species. I haven’t spent enough time in a particular fishery to have a real confidence in many. I guess my question is, Do you bring a few confidence flies of different sizes of the fish you’re targeting, a n d do those flies vary for different fisheries of the same species?
And No, I’m not asking for your secret fly patterns, just thought it was a good topic.
I would treat your fly box the same way you treat your conventional tackle box—they’re just tools. I have two go-to baits I start with whenever I’m fishing. If neither one produces after a little while, I dive into my box and keep trying different baits until one of two things happens:
I catch a fish, or
I run out of time.
Sometimes the fish are really particular about what they want to eat.
Interesting. I’m not exclusively fly yet but I usually bring a handful of flies, literally. When in Choko I’ll take a couple baitfish and a couple shrimp pattens. Maybe a couple tarpon patterns. 6-8 flies and I usually only use 2. I rarely change them but on occasion I might.
@Cdee
It’s a great topic! How many flies do I carry? Toooo many but it’s all I do, fly that is. Rarely do I bring my casters. When I do it’s one small bag.
I fished with a guide that spends time in the Glades and sees Steve Huff at the same dock from time to time.
He was talking to Steve and another person came up to shake his hand and meet him, then asked him what flies he uses in the area. The guide said Steve opened the box and there were two flies - one light, one dark. He said that’s all you need. If one doesn’t work, he tries the other.
I loved it. I take a very small fly container and pick out several keys flies for the day and store my box away. I have way too many from over the years and find myself only relying on a select few at this point.
As the saying goes - there are two types of flies - ones that catch the fish, and others that catch the fisherman.
I use to load up with boxes and sacks full of flies. After some years I realized I typically changed fles maybe three times an outing. And I realized I don’t care for or have much confidence in a lot of the flies in those many boxes so I never used them. So now I have typically one box with maybe 20 different styles. This for snook and reds. I always have a trout set up with a clouser ready if I want to target trout. Tarpon, I have three or four rods rigged each with different flies and a handful of replacements.
I usually take just about all my flies with me “just in case”. They don’t take up as much space as soft plastics and plugs so it’s not a big deal. As others stated, you can always keep them all at home and just select a few to put in your small box to take on the skiff.
I use to take a giant mfc boat box full of flies and even at times take a second one. In reality I was throwing like 1-5 different flies a day so I started just tossing what I need from the day in a zippered sunglasses case. I’ve now got one case for inshore and one for offshore. So easy to store and since they stay in dry bags or in a hatch they stay dry. If for some reason they did get wet it’s super easy to wash.
Medium waterproof Plano box. I use three patterns. 95% of the time so I just retie three-5 of the fly when one of those is low. Probably have a dozen or so other patterns that all but never get tied on. Near me most fish who don’t eat are not going to eat anything. And fish who will eat will hit anything that looks like food but more importantly they have to be able to see it. So dark, flashy, or chartreuse are my three standards.
I tend to lose several flies per day, whether by break offs, snags, or the fly getting worn out. I try to have at least 6 of each color/size of preferred patterns for a week-long trip. More in remote locations where there are no flies available for sale. It is still possible to run out, in which case the next closest match will have to suffice.
On the boat, there are several large waterproof Plano boxes in a bag under the hatch, as well as several smaller slitted foam boxes. Several hundred flies total. I typically only use a handful, but which handful can change depending on conditions and the fish that show up.
Of course when I take a trip somewhere I trailer the boat like down to the Keys I bring every fly in the house, on the boat, in the car, on my bureau…lol. Still use probably 3 or 4. I do keep the dry packs you get in shipping stuff and throw them in my fly boxes and when I get back from fishing throw the flies I have cut off into a jar of fresh water. I just wash the flies that are still on a rod
This is an interesting topic. In Montana my fly gear boat bag lives in my truck with about 30-40 fly boxes in it. I’ve been honing it for 35 years. Mice, ants, hoppers 2 (large and small), Skwalas, mayflies, Caddis, wade fishing boxes, buggers * 3, crane flies, damsels, and a ton more. I have a smooth system up there for floating, pontooning, wading, fishing lakes, ponds, streams or rivers. Comprehensive and prepared 99% of the time.
So ten years ago or so, I start fishing the salt and since I was still working, I loaded up with flies. I was determined to never be without the “right” fly. I have enough flies to outfit half a dozen of the MFC boxes or more. And now I find myself using very few flies, all but spoons that I tie myself. I have a couple back up boxes of flies in my boat storage area but only have about a dozen to 18 in the box I regularly use and that includes about 3 of each pattern. I’ve been down here for a month and have caught a good many fish. All on a Kwan style fly, White Gurgler, Pink/Chartreuse Clousers and the Lemay, small Tan/White Clouser. And that’s it. @MikeCockman hooked me up with some of his MC Purple Deceivers yesterday so they will go right into the rotation, especially since I’ve been meaning to add a dark fly to my arsenal but I think long term I’ll be going the Steve Huff minimalist route. If I recall correctly from a podcast he was on, he offers his Tarpon fishermen the choice of a Purple/Black fly or a Black/Purple fly, whichever they prefer.
My flies are organized in boxes based on species or fishery. Typically if I am flood tide fishing I have one box which holds probably 3 dozen but they are all the same fly that I have thrown exclusively for years but in a few variations of weight and color. Tarpon fishing I have a boat box that holds larger flies and those are used offshore also and that’s 4 dozen or so in that box. I also have a foam fly keeper on my boat that always has 5-10 flies stuck in it from when I tie something new on and don’t get around to putting the first fly back in my box. So typically I have 6-40 flies minimum on the boat at a time. I used to be a minimalist but have had trips where I only bring the fly tied onto my rod and that’s typically when I would break off and the fishing ends up being lights out. Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it but I still don’t want to be over cluttered.
I lived in UT for 15 yrs, trout can be incredibly picky. So many bugs and usually multiple life stages. I had 1 dry and 1 nymph box for midges, pmds, caddis, two, stoneflies. Not too mentions tons of streamers (my favorite to fish)! A certain pattern would work one yr and not the next.
