Jump to content

Silent Auction All My Flies (Well Most)


DennisS

Recommended Posts

Dennis,

 

I thiink I am going to follow your lead and start over as well, getting too caught up on too many patterns. I am down to 5 books on flypatterns i am researching with the goal of 21/2 fly boxes for East Slope waters. One for dries/emergers/terrestrials one for flynymphs/nymphs/choronomids, and one for the region or body of water you intend to fish. I know it can be done. Three primary colours, 2 seizes 2 basic fly patterns. Will be interesting. Michael what do you think?

 

Roy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well a very big surprise!!! I will be bringing some bling for the silent auction. See all of you there!

Doug Como :clapping:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've always been attracted to the idea of having a limited number of patterns and only a few boxes. But somehow, no matter how much I like the idea in theory, I always end up with a vest with box after box of flies stuffed in there just in case. And I know I don't need them, probably won't use them, and forget which flies are in which box. Bravo. I wish I could do it, but I know myself too well. A packrat I will remain.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Roy and Mike it can be done. :thumbup: You need to take the bull by the horns and have at her. :whip: I would like to get down to just 2 boxes but I'm thinking maybe 3 the third one will be a catch all.

Mike I know what you mean, it a guaruntee that the fly or flies you left behind is the one that are going to be working.

 

Now I need to sit down and sole search on what patterns I'm going to have in my 2 boxes.

 

I've been asked to put the flies into a couple fly boxes also so I'm thinking there will be still enough left over for a can of some sort.

 

Roy Soft Hackles for sure are going to be one of my patterns. :clapping: One box will be dries & emergers 2nd nymphs & leeches, streamers??? streams may end up in number 3 box.

 

I didn't think it would be that hard to actually give up those flies but it sure gives you a wiered feeling as the flies drop into the bucket. :eek:

 

 

See all Nov 3rd

 

Tight Lines Always

Dennis S

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I started a similar project this summer. I am down to two boxes but they also hold a lot of flies. I am thinking that I will be adding another to hold the larger dries and streamers.

With that said I am by no means down to only three boxes.. I am only down to carrying three. There will still be two or three (maybe one big one) for the boat when I'm on a lake as well as one dedicated to pike flies and likely a couple other specialty boxes.

 

I also put together my own lanyard to hold my tools and one fly box. The extra box goes in my pocket for the nice weather days. I also did this so that I can make use of a backpack. Since I am also afflicted with "to much crapitis" this presented a bit of a challenge the first couple of times I used it. The challange was trying to make it through the day carrying 50lbs of crap. I have a better understanding of the word essentials but still have a ways to go. Despite the challenges aforementioned I am happy with the lanyard/backpack set up as it allows me to carry my lunch and my coat and extra water and a flashlight since its not unusual for me to be walking the river all day and a bit into the dark..

 

I don't think I will ever be cured of my "to much crapitis" but with some focus I think I can make better use of it....;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dennis

 

Good luck to you buddy. I would like to carry less but just cannot do it. I've seen Michaels vest and in comparison to mine I'm lightweight. I carry 5 C&F boxes and one slightly larger foam box....thats it. Over the years I've narrowed down what I carry and how I organize it and it looks like this:

 

C&F box 1 - Attractors only- dry and emergers

C&F box 2 - Mayflies and mayfly emergers

C&F box 3 - Caddis and caddis emergers

C&F box 4 - Nymphs (box has never been opened)

C&F box 5 - Ants, hoppers etc

Foam box 1 - Foam and big drys

 

I'd like to carry less but just cannot get rid of any box as having them all on me gives me a level of comfort that no matter how the day turns out I'm able to pick a fly that I know will work or could work. Would I like to carry less...yes, can I carry....don't think so but it is a work in progress.

 

Now, for a different topic. I really enjoyed Michaels demo last night and in particular the Macreme Madame X. As my supply of macreme is getting low I went on a goggle search to find a supplier and what I found (unless I read it wrong) is that Macreme is not a material but is a style of weaveing. Most of the so-called Macreme I found is in fact polypropylene and again most of what I saw is called Phentex. Can anyonw shed any light on this subject.

 

Vince

 

PS Great job on last nights demo Michael...may have to tye up one of those weighted nymphs and I mean one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Vince,

 

Yes, macrame is polypropylene which is the material used in phentex. However phentex is not macrame. It isn't as curly or twisted as macrame yarn. The twist traps air which is what makes macrame float better than phentex. What you found about the style of weaving probably explains the difference in how it's made. I've tried phentex in place of macrame and it doesn't work as well.

 

Dave Murray found a website in the States, but the shipping charges were outrageous. Maybe the site Barry Wright knows about will be a better source.

 

Michael

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So in the interest of coming clean I will describe what flyboxes are in my vest. This vest weighs 6 pounds without lunch and water btw.

 

One double sided box with BWO's (emerger, parachute, CDC, comparadun) on one side, and assorted small dries on the other.

One double sided box with small nymphs on one side, and classic wets and small buggers on the other.

One medium box of large woolly buggers.

One small box of hoppers and adult stoneflies.

One double sided box with pupae, emergers, dries, and swimming caddis.

One small box of San Juan worms (8 different patterns)

One box of stonefly nymphs (10 patterns)

One small box of caddis nymphs.

One small box of Pheasant Tail nymphs.

One box of CFFs, H&L Variants, emergers, spinners.

One box of backswimmers and floating nymphs.

One box of Green Drake imitations (nymphs, emergers, 4 different adult patterns)

One large box with more Green Drakes, Grey Drakes, Brown Drakes, Hexes, hoppers and stonefly adults.

One small box with PMD imitations (emergers, dries, spinners)

One small box with caddis pupae and emergers.

Another small box with caddis pupae and emergers.

 

That's 16 boxes instead of the 14 I thought I was carrying. And I already see the duplication I can eliminate.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Michael

 

Holy Moly man, you sure do carry a lot of boxes....I got some catching up to do.....wait a minute....scrap that thought as I'm supposed to get in a box reduction mode. I just weighed my vest and I come in at just over 3 1/2 pounds without my net. Maybe I should just leave well enough alone eh.

 

Vince

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think you're right in the ballpark, Vince. I've been fishing with 2 boxes for some time now, and I'm planning to step it up to 4 next year. Too many times I've ended up wondering about a fly I thought might've worked, but I didn't have with me.

 

Dennis, what are you going to do with all your extra flies in the future? The way you tye, you'll have those 2 boxes filled up before Christmas, and I can't imagine you stopping or even cutting down on your tying. Please tell me you're counting how many flies go in the can. We should do a 50/50.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mike:

With all those boxes I stll don't see buzzers, "killer" pattterns, boobies, glow in the dark flies or even elk hair caddis.

An there's no mention of scuds, crayfish, clousers, zonkers, atlantic salmon fies or a host of saltwater patterns

What's holding you back ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rick your right I will never stop tying. I suppose what will happen is I will get to a point again when I will need to Cull the flies again.

Already I'm salavatating over Macrame flies.

But I honestly am going to try and cut back to just 3 boxes tops on the stream. I'm hopeing to be using only 10 to 12 differnt flies

It is a very adventurous endever that I've set up for myself. As for count not a chance.

 

Tight lines Always.

Dennis S :fishing::fish_jump:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dave,

 

My lake flies are a whole other matter. I keep them in the pockets on my pontoon boat, and a couple of boat boxes for the times when I'm in someone's boat. I only take 5 or 6 big boxes and a few small ones in my pontoon. There are boxes for chironomids (3), leeches, woolly buggers, boobies, scuds shrimp backswimmers water boatmen, dragonflies and damsels, adult dragonflies and damsels hoppers plus assorted foam things, daphnia, and I forget the other ones. I could simplify there, too. But I won't.

 

Michael

Link to comment
Share on other sites

post-276-0-02954400-1351354044_thumb.jpg

So in the interest of coming clean I will describe what flyboxes are in my vest. This vest weighs 6 pounds without lunch and water btw.

 

One double sided box with BWO's (emerger, parachute, CDC, comparadun) on one side, and assorted small dries on the other.

One double sided box with small nymphs on one side, and classic wets and small buggers on the other.

One medium box of large woolly buggers.

One small box of hoppers and adult stoneflies.

One double sided box with pupae, emergers, dries, and swimming caddis.

One small box of San Juan worms (8 different patterns)

One box of stonefly nymphs (10 patterns)

One small box of caddis nymphs.

One small box of Pheasant Tail nymphs.

One box of CFFs, H&L Variants, emergers, spinners.

One box of backswimmers and floating nymphs.

One box of Green Drake imitations (nymphs, emergers, 4 different adult patterns)

One large box with more Green Drakes, Grey Drakes, Brown Drakes, Hexes, hoppers and stonefly adults.

One small box with PMD imitations (emergers, dries, spinners)

One small box with caddis pupae and emergers.

Another small box with caddis pupae and emergers.

 

That's 16 boxes instead of the 14 I thought I was carrying. And I already see the duplication I can eliminate.

 

Michael,

 

I think (we) may have an addiction, we may have to place ourselves in the program Fly Patterns Anonymous or (FPA). :D Where do we find the space to pack the lot.

I revistied and refreshed alot this summer, most of us have been fishing for at least 15 years or so, we spend way too much money on unnecessary equiptment that we could truly do without, and every year we always seem to jump on the latest new trend, may it be new equiptment or new fly patterns, we sure keep the flyshops well stocked, I am bad for that. Taking into consideration that this once quiet sport of flyfishing is evolving rather rapidly, and affordably, there is way too much cool stuff out there, that we did not have a few years ago. Where am i going with this... well I sat on the riverbank one day this summer and was out fished by an old friend that I havn't fished with for years, I had a humbling lesson on emtomology and flyfishing that I just didn't regurgitate from years past my strategy changed his didn't. When i showed up dressed for battle all decked out in high tech gear, i saw a rising smile on his face.

There are only rally two types of fly patterns - immitating naturals and attractor patterns, with many variations in the latter.

I think I am returing to the older western patterns of the Dennis, Brooks, Hughs, hafele ara

As Dennis puts it soft hackles is a must for the wet fly catageory.

 

My thoughts are two regular adjustable12 compartment myron flyboxes (weight reduced) for the regulars Drys/Wets

 

with another for the region fished, this is taking into account the insect hatches and river basin.

 

Research continues..

 

Roy...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lied me to that FPA meeting. I resemble those remarks.

 

Started Culling on the weekend. One full fly box and I haven't even started on the Boxes in my vest. I have freed up several fly boxes.

 

I still have to decide what my go to flies are going to be. I have it narrow down but still haven't finalized the last 10 to 12 patterns.

 

It should make my winter interesting paring down for the fishing season next year. Light is the way to go.

 

Tight lines Always

Dennis S :fishing::fish_jump:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have consulted now 4 dozen or so books even going back to the original fly tying Hughes and Randall Kaufmann guides... some old goto's as some would say, these patterns are great but some are intense in materials and time to time, if i have to use three or more materials in a pattern, it will not meet the criteria. The research out of G.M Skews, Halford is heading too far back, but are the very best of the old school english staples, got to take into account evolution and the changing species of insects :bigsmile:

 

looks like I am finding the basic pattern for each class of insect that fish seem to forage on .... so,

 

2 boxes for the goto's and a third for the ones that should work in the area fished.

 

Roy..

 

Roy..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks like I might need 5 flyboxes next year, so hold tight Vince, I'm nearly there. Thanks to Dan, I realized that I've actually caught 14 species of fish on Wooly Buggers, in various sizes and colors. With a track record like that, seems like I'd be crazy to not have a dedicated box just for Wooly Buggers. So I could be carrying Small Dries, Large Dries, Small Wets, Large Wets, and Wooly Buggers. Although I'm still debating- truth is, I really don't use nymphs and other streamers all that much. I might just keep it to 4 boxes. My original motivation was to start carrying more dries, so maybe I'll go with the 2 boxes for big and small dries, one for various wet flies (to me this includes winged wets, soft hackles, nymphs, and streamers), and one whole box for Wooly Buggers. What do you guys think, 4 boxes or 5?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well interesting I was going to post such a question. How many boxes can on get away with. Roy had to mention about 3 materials or less Goto flies Skues, Halford. Man I'm going to go even further back. I'm going to hit on Stewart and Pitt. I'm giving serious thought in tying nothing but soft hackles for my nymphs, wets, chirodamides and emergers. Simple and every one of them could be a goto fly. :wave_smile: Some of our modern fly fishers had the right idea. Brooks fully believe in soft hackles. What do you think fishing in the round is. He never mention it that way but fishing in the round is nothing but a big soft hackle with tons of weight. So why not make small soft hackles with weight. Now you can get away with one box and carry all your nymphs wets chromies and emergers Then a box for drys one side parachutes the other foam. Then one for my Llama leechs and woolly buggers so I'm down to 3 boxs. Do you go for the 4th as the wild card box or just stick to the 3 boxes. Delemas, Deemas :eek:

 

Sticking to my guns most flies are gone this weekend. :clapping:

 

Tight Lines Always

Dennis S :fishing::fish_jump:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK, maybe I should come clean, too. I do not think I have managed to tie that many flies, but I have a stack of full boxes. I will count and report back. Instead of throwing away the lot, I try to do the following. Before I get on the water, I pick two to four boxes to put in my vest, the rest stay in the car. During the Winter I do not carry Hoppers, adult Stoneflies, Green Drakes, etc, at all. The Boatmen are confined to my lake gear, I know I should not... If I am going to fish the Maligne, I will also not carry on the stream delicate small flies that would be suitable for Stauffer. So far, I seem to manage with three to four boxes reasonable well. I use a Filson foul-weather vest, with backpack and two large pockets in the front. I could cram four standard C&F boxes in each pocket. Now, I am trying to get by with two per pocket. The C&F boxes are pricey but their interchangeable inserts fit the above method perfectly. You can basically load up your minimalist two to three boxes by taking the empty shells and putting in the desired inserts. We should try the following exercise: name a water (and a season if required), then put up a list of what works when and why. Repeat. Once we have enough data, look for patterns of flies that can be grouped together. These become your building blocks for what to take on the stream. We could do this on an open night?

 

So much for flies. I pack way too much other gear: in the Summer, clothing from tropical conditions to Arctic blizzards, spare rods and reels (this is actually good when one of your buddies breaks a rod or forgets his reels at home!), fly tying stuff, binoculars/birding stuff, bug collecting kit, coffee making implements (including the indispensable Kelly kettle), waterproof camera in the pocket, SLR for other wildlife opportunities, battery chargers, etc. I have not included food here... The net result, is that me and another guy (packing reasonably little) fill up the station wagon to the gills, including the rooftop box, for nothing more elaborate than a five-day trip to the Crow. It is true, I could last a month with the stuff, or just move there, other than groceries... Any fellow sufferers?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...