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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.

As a result of following observations on flies I have finished up with, just the 6, "default to” or “bread and butter" fly boxes below.

Observations 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.

1. Remember "flies catch more fishermen than fish".
2. Don't add a fly to your fly box just because you like the look of it. Think about its "form & function".
3. It's important to "look at a fly & how you fish it from the fishes perspective".
4. 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. 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 If its the latter once I prove the new fly that I want to add I remove the fly that has been superseded.

My 4 "default to” or “bread and butter" fly boxes.

1	My “trout” lake wet fly box < This is a large 4 face fly box and I have the faces set out as follows; Face 1: Unweighted woolly bugger variants Face 2: Weighted woolly bugger variants Face 3: Loch and Attractor flies Face 4: Small selections of boobies, lake nymphs, blobs, squirmy worms and dries. The reason for the inclusion of the small cross section of dry flies in this box is to avoid the need of carrying my larger dry fly selection on social fishing outings. The remaining two faces hold approximately 300 dedicated loch style flies made up of English wets and a cross section of streamers. When I have a social days shore or boat based fishing on trout lakes this one fly box of around 480 flies covers all my fly requirements.

2	My “trout” river wet fly box This is a large 4 face fly box and holds around 200 individual flies on each of its 4 leafs. Face 1 is dedicated to my favorite TBH nymphs. Face 2 The bottom row is dedicated to river buggers that I use for fishing across and down or for swinging in deeper pools and the balance of that face is loaded with the remainder the lesser favored, but still critical to have ob hand, TBH nymphs. Face 3 is loaded with my favorite non-beadhead nymphs. Face 4 The bottom two rows are dedicated to spiders and the rest of that face is loaded with the lesser favored, but still critical to have ob hand, TBH nymphs. That's a staggering 700+ flies in one fly box.

3	My “trout” dry fly box Another large 4 face fly box and holds around 200 individual flies on each of its 4 leafs all of which are dedicated to an extensive selection of dry flies. Whilst set up for trout and holding traditional trout dries including, emerger patterns, beetles, ants and hoppers it holds plenty of flies that can cross over to entice bass and perch.

4	My “trout” booby fly box This range of boobies covers very small trout boobies right through to boobies that can be used on trout or are equally at home as a surface fly for bass, saratoga, bream or mangrove jacks ... boobies are just that versatile.

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