whats in the box jock

thanks to Bob Cozzo from Ely, Minnesota for a mail asking for a bit more detailed explanation on what i carry in my boat box , well happy to help bob here below is the contents of my box unpacked and on the living room floor (the wife is out)

my boat box is completely different to my bank bag and that again is completely different to what id take if i was traveling ultralight but more on that in another blog post , i tend to choose water specific flies these days that match what the fish are probably used to seeing swimming about , i also include a few flyer flies flies that id maybe not use on a particular water , so depending on season and what the fish are up to my choice of flies can vary greatly in both colour and size , the flies above represent what im hauling just now , again this can change from trip to trip

so whats in the box then

i carry a large ziplock bag which i put all my spools of leader materials this keeps em altogether and easy access on the boat if i need to change leaders i have all the spools in one bag ready to go

a couple of plano boxes one has all the deerhair head flies , I've learnt through experience that deerhair can be flattened if stored incorrectly , there is also a deep clip lock box that i have a reel and some spare spools in it fits great in the box and again keeps everything together , i also have in this picture a sea fishing rig wallet that i keep all my traces in ready made up and ready to clip on to a leader although ince discovering authanic wire it doesn't get out much now

i also carry a small range of tools and unhooking equipment i carry a few styles of unhooking pliers short ones tend to be what i use most as most of the fish i catch are usually lip hooked or just inside the mouth but i always carry longer ones in case i do deep hook one but this has yet to happen , knifes are also useful to clear weed of props and a million other things , i also carry a multi tool again a million different uses for it and handy to have in the box especially if you get a hook in the hand .

a longer type clip box is a recent addition to the box fits in a corner quite nicely and for my use carry a couple of spools of authanic wire a pair of small sharp scissors for cutting the authanic with , and i also keep a small box of cross lock swivels in here that i use on the end of my traces for quick change of fly , again all easy to access in one place , i also carry a small roll of electrical tape this has many uses from using as a finger guard when stripping line in the wet to covering cuts and using to mark you line to keep you fly at a specific depth in the water , a million uses

when every thing is packed away it all fits quite snugly into the box , the box itself is a daiwa seat bot that course anglers use in the UK , im not sure if you can get them overseas if you then a large plastic cool box will also do the job if you can get one with a hinged lid even better

the inside lid i have lined with a cut to size yoga matt and used a hot melt glue gun to stick it down on these i tend to have the flys im going to be starting out with and flies i want to try in the water also a great place to store used flies to dry , make sure all your flies are dry at the end of the trip if not take them out and dry them separately

i have a rapala clip on unhooking and scissors tool kit that your supposed to clip on your best , i clip it to the side of my box and i always have ultra fast access to a knife and unhooking equipment , and that's that hope it was helpful to you bob

on the vice

been a busy week for me topping up predatorbite with flies so ive had little time to play with my own patterns until last night when i decided to whack out a couple of buck tail patterns which came out better than i expected one in black with black flash

and of course one in chartreuse with a nice green flash through it like this pattern quite a lot will be playing with a few more of these patterns

while i was doing the predatorbite order i was churning out the flies and wondered how long it was taking me to do a rainbow trout pattern so i timed myself and i managed to tie a fly in 2 Min's so with that being so easy i decided to make a short video on the tie , the video actually takes 8 Min's or so but im talking through it but you ca tie this no bother in just a few Min's , a quick and easy but great looking fly enjoy




enjoy and see you all soon

mcfluffchucker

(a cave in Scotland)