I organize by fly type. This goes for my trout (freshwater) stuff as well. When you have a lot of big stuff like clousers and you need multiple boxes I get a semi color arrangement going. Natural colors to bright.

 

By fish - red box, bones, permit, tarpon, general offshore, bass. That way, I can pre-pack gear for different trips. Might go one week to the lakes for bass, then down the next for reds. I only have to change bags.

 

I do mine by type, and then by size

 

I use type first, then size, and then color. I almost went to a few smaller boxes that could use to separate for types, fish species, certain areas, or just whatever struck my fancy that day or trip but that was just too much.

 

I keep bonefish/permit flies and redfish/snook flies together but tarpon flies have there own box. Also carry along a box of misc. shark, Cuda, etc.

Here in South Florida you can encounter all species in a given day.

 

sort by color first as that's what I determine first

 

I guess it's good to have too many flies. You look like the nice guy when you give some away because you have plenty of flies as backups, the catch-all drawer or box you keep under your desk with those experimental flies that look like extraterrestrials looking things you either wanted to try that idea out or they were an epic fail that happened on your vise. Either way, those are the flies that you are too embarrassed to break out in front of your buddies! But please give those flies away to those who are getting started in fly fishing and don't know how to tie yet. Sure, give them a few choice flies you know they'll do good with. But also give them a handful of those turds that didn't meet your standards and allow someone else to have something to work off of. The caveat is to make sure you tell them "these are not my good flies but you can try them out or use them as backups in case you run out of good flies!"

Ok then, fly box organization... I guess if you sum up all the responses above about the subject, then I try to go with an average of all of their replies to some extent. So I have boxes saved for different species. However, within each box get some separation of general fly type, then size to color transition. Where it get's a little complicated is flies that work for multiple species. So like with saltwater here in Florida, I will also have several general boxes of flies that will be organized the same within the box like I do with a certain specie. Unfortunately, if you carry along a box of flies for each specie of saltwater fish here in Florida, you'd have to lug around a tot bag of fly boxes.

So I have a drawer of fly boxes I have in my fly tying desk that has most of the boxes I have that I have any specie I decide to pursue to some extent.

So my boxes are as follows;

Freshwater

* Freshwater trout
* Salmon
* Bass
* Panfish
* Exotics
(I want to have a box for stripers (bucket list fish) but I know they'll hit snook and bonita flies when I eventually do that (hopefully one day))

Saltwater

Bonefish only
Small crab box (for permit, big bones, smaller tarpon and big redfish).
Daytime Tarpon
Nighttime Tarpon
Offshore
Greenbacks (basically sardine patterns I use since they are bulky I like to keep lots if the bite is on).
General Saltwater (snook, small tarpon, reds, sea trout, jacks, macks, etc) I keep 2 dbl sided boxes on me that transition between darker colors, size, types, starting from one box to the other.
Night dock light fly box

The main thing I like to do if I go out to fish is to plan and try to target a certain specie or 2 and to bring the flies (box/es) associated with that/those species. Then for saltwater, I'll also take my 2 general saltwater boxes along with me. So I try not to have more than 3 boxes with me.

Anyways, so these boxes are relatively small. I try not to bring everything including the kitchen sink with me anymore. These days, I like simple and like to fish without lots of gear. Maybe 2 rods, a very small gear bag and a few boxes of flies when I go. I'm not the one to bring a dozen flies of each since it doesn't force to try to see what else they'll hit or maybe those experimental flies I tied up to see it they'll get a hit as well. So maybe 2 or 3 of the same and some variations of each or transitions into different patterns and/or colors. Then you can restock what you have used when you get back home or back to the room. If it's a big multi-day trip, then you can keep backups back in your vehicle or the hotel room.

 

Just wondering how people are organizing their fly boxes....

By season. The season dictates the color and size. I have a spring box, a summer box, etc...

 

Just wondering how people are organizing their fly boxes. Do you organize by fly type (clousers, EP baitfish, bendback), or by prey type (baitfish, shrimp, crabs) or by fish specie (tarpon, snook, reds) or is there some other method to your madness.

Me, I have WAY too many flies, and I'm in the process of culling and re-organizing and in the process I'm trying to come up with a better method for the organization of how I store my flies.


AP

Have gone back and forth on this a few times and think best way for me is by species. try to carry only 1 box with me on a given day.

 

I should of just replied to the original question..... "varwee caefuuully....."

 

I am pretty much aligned with Backwater with one extra set of boxes. I don't have a freshwater trout box. My trout flies are broken down much further, mayfly box, caddis and terrestials box, stillwater nymph box, stillwater leech/minnow box.

For saltwater, I am usually targeting one speice (redfish or tarpon). So if I am redfishing I will have my big streamer box and small box of crab patterns and a small box of shrimp. If I am tarpon fishing I usually have one big box of tarpon patterns and one small box of catch all stuff (which rarely comes out).

 

ifsteve, that's because I'm not much of a trout guy nor have easy access to them like you have. So my trout selection is limited and can fit them all in one box.