The number of fly boxes you carry is obviously one of personal choice. One difficulty you may encounter when you are setting up your fly boxes is which flies you should include, and how many flies you should carry in your fly box or boxes. The last thing you want to be doing is standing on the bank of a river madly pulling flies out to find a fly you know is there . . .somewhere, but it isn’t where you expected to find it or you fly box or boxes are so crowded with flies that the one you are desperately looking for is hidden away . . . somewhere.

Trout

As a result of following the rules in the notes below I have finished up with six fly boxes for trout fly fishing and
I have described each of those fly boxes below. Quick link to notes on flies.

Click on the fly type below to enter that page.

My bead head fly box

I have listed this fly box first because its undoubtedly the most important of my river fly fishing boxes. I am a firm believer that when fishing rivers you have to get down to where the fish are holding and also that flies particularly in faster running water and must include “hot spots”. These flies satisfy both these requirements.

Bead head nymphs
Bead head spiders

My ‘nymph’ fly box

Most of these flies have some weight in them but none are bead heads. A very important selection of flies because it includes flies that have applications in both rivers and impoundments. Whilst the flies in my bead head box are big on “hot spots” most of my non bead head nymphs are more representational of the naturals they are intended to represent. As well as including traditional ‘nymphs in my nymph fly box I also populate it with other flies that I fish like nymphs.

Nymphs
Spiders
Carixia and shrimp
Midge pupa, grubs and snails

My lake fly box

I love my lake fly fishing because it gives me regular access to bigger fish than I am likely to regularly encounter in the rivers and streams I have regular access to. This box holds a selection of “lake” flies that have been proven in a wide range of impoundments in Australia and New Zealand.

Loch flies
Streamers & pulling flies

My dry fly box

Dry fly fly fishing is very visual and at times can out fish all other methods. This selection of flies will cover most of your surface fly fishing requirements in both Australia and new Zealand.

Dry flies
Hoppers, locust & crickets
Emergers

My woolly buggers fly box

Given that if I could only carry one wet fly it would be a woolly bugger its not surprising that I have dedicated a full fly box to these quintessential wet flies.

My favourite buggers

My boobies fly box

Boobies are an essential fly if your going to cover all the bases with your impoundment fly fishing techniques. They are also great flies for targeting other species especially Australian bass. Because they cross over between species, have specialist applications and and are bigger flies any way I have separated them out into a separate fly box.

Boobies

Pre & post spawn run fly box

Fishing to spawning fish isn’t everybody’s idea of fun . . . It certainly isn’t mine so I just don’t do it. In the interest of completeness however I have included a selection of pre and post spawn run flies that suite this style of fishing.

Egg flies

Other species fly boxes

Bass, EP’s & perch flies
Estuary
Salt water – offshore
Saltwater – tropical

Notes on flies

One of the things I try to promote is the importance of limiting most if not all of your fly box to just those flies that you are confident work for you, you understand what they can be used to represent, and you know how to fish.

Remember “flies catch more fishermen than fish”.

Don’t add a fly to your fly box just because you like the look of it. Think about its “form & function”.

It’s important to “look at a fly & how you fish it from the fishes perspective”.

I am pretty hard on myself when it comes to sorting out my fly boxes and I adhere to just a few simple self imposed rules:
I only carry flies that I am confident work for me, and I understand what they can be used to represent, and how to fish them.
I only carry enough flies in my fly boxes to fill each box without flies being hidden away under other flies.
I don’t add a fly to my fly box just because I like the look of it. Flies catch more fly-fishers than fish and with that in mind I only add a new fly to my fly box if it will do something that I don’t already have covered or will do something better than a fly that I currently carry in my fly boxes. If its the latter once I prove the new fly that I want to add I remove the fly that has been superseded.

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