The Mirror Boxes

[Wildfisher]

I like to think  I've been fishing long enough now to have gotten past the stage of tying every fly pattern known to man and stuffing box after box with a never ending range of flies that I'll never use and could not possibly carry.  This is one reason I don't experiment with tying "new" patterns in winter. It's pointless.  I can't try the "new" flies out for months and by the time I can I'll have forgotten about them or just lost the thread of what I was trying to achieve in the first place.  This is not a theoretical journey I'm on,  it's a place I have been. Often.

So this now is my approach:

I only use say a dozen or so patterns, but crucially,  these are in a variety of sizes, and, in the case of wet flies or nymphs, a variety of weights. This amounts to a lot of flies, not a lot of patterns.

I now carry three medium sized boxes. One with nymphs  and dries,  another with terrestrials like Naomis, tarantulas, beetles, DHS etc and one with wets  and streamers.

I carry these 3 boxes and leave 3 mirror boxes with the bulk of my gear in the car. The mirror boxes are simply mirror images of the three boxes I carry that I can use if I lose any of them. This is essential if going away from home to fish.

Of course the boxes are not really mirror images, if they were left would be right. They are laid out the same, but mirror box had a better ring to it than copy or duplicates box, so sod it, that's what I'm calling them.  :lol:

[Bobfly]

A good plan. 
I was a bit distraught for 40 minutes this summer when I found I had dropped a floating foam type fly box somewhere along a river I had been wading in a lot of the way. I finally found the box below the bank and inches from the water edge ---- just where I had earlier scrambled out for a pee!  Which was lucky !!!

[Highlander]

I do not have mirror boxes as such but a good idea. My problems are that some/a lot flies
transcends the different waters in so far that my" River Box" has flies in it that I might use on a loch.
So my "Loch Box" has both river & loch & wait a minute my Loch Box has "Sea Trout" flies You get my drift. If I indeed had a mirror box it would be around 3ft square. So consequently I have too many standard boxes & what happens I need a certain fly & it is in another box which I do not have in that box as it is at home.
Basically I have far too many boxes. I am now thinking of having a "South Uist Box" so that another box but you know what will happen the "Taking Fly" will be in another box at home.

I suppose I could "HIRE" one of Bibio1s flies.........now there is a thought. Do not take any flies & just hire his. Maybe steal some of Lochan Loads's nice bumbles. Clan Chief ties a nice fly...Hmmm   So many choices
:roll:

[Lochan_load]

I might do some swapsies for flies, beer or decent grub

[Wildfisher]

Loch flies and river flies are essentially  the same thing, but you have to rationalise what you carry or it becomes impossible and you create a whole set of problems for yourself. For example, just about all my nymphs are basically a pheasant tail, some have a hot spot / added bling, some don't.

That's really just one pattern and it will cover most situations.  I'll have them in say 5 sizes, 16,14, 10,12,10 and in say 4 weights. I'll also have 3 of each as carrying one is daft - you are bound to lose it in a fish / tree / on the bottom and that will be the one that was catching the fish.  So for one nymph pattern I could  have 5 x 4 x 3 = 60 flies. I carry brown and black nymphs, but hardly ever use the black ones, so have a reduced range.

Most loch wet flies are just minor variations on a theme. I'd be happy enough carrying a few Dunkelds, Butchers, Bibios, Kates and perhaps a Soldier Palmer in different sizes and dressing density, add to that a few Greenwells and Black Pennels and I'd feel pretty much covered.  The dry flies I use on lochs are exactly the same ones I use on rivers as are the streamers.

[Lochan_load]

I've got one smallish box and have kind of what you describe, variations on a theme ordered by colour and a wee box of about twenty dries with a few streamers in it. if I'm planning to go somewhere I'll tie half a dozen flies that I think I might need and add them in. I was fishing with my mate from work this year and he had about six boxes, my worst nightmare!

[Fishtales]

I have approx. 200 flies spread over three boxes that I always carry, but I don't have any problem with fly choice as I only use three flies all season 😎

[Lochan_load]

Alan that's my dry fly box!!
40p at the angling centre

[Wildfisher]

I have approx. 200 flies spread over three boxes that I always carry, but I don't have any problem with fly choice as I only use three flies all season 😎

It's perfectly possible to use only 3 flies, but still carry lots of flies. Size (and weight in wet flies) is important, so only  3 fly patterns can easily become 60 flies or more. I carry about 60 PTNs, in various sizes, weights and spares, but it's still only 1 fly pattern.

[Wildfisher]

At least dry flies are a sweeping generalisation of something :lol:

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in fact

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