Refilling Fly Boxes

Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful 2017 and are beginning to develop fishing plans for 2018. I’ve been tying flies the last week as I begin refilling fly boxes. Mostly Beetle Bailey flies for a customer who plans to use them in Patagonia.

But we had a new fly fisher stop by the house yesterday and I gave her a few flies. While looking through my “provider boxes”, I noted there were a lot of empty spots. Those flies were either sent to customers, used in club raffles, or used by dancingtrout and me this last year.

But those empty bins…kinda sad looking.

I’ve expressed how good Beetle Bailey has been for us and I decided a few weeks ago to begin tying these to create a little inventory. I know I will be getting orders for these flies in a few months.

Here is a picture of my fly tying vise on New Year’s Eve.

But after I finish tying beetles, which flies will be next as I begin to tie and fill up my boxes?

As I mentioned in last week’s post, I have at least 187 fly pattern sheets on RiverKeeper Flies. You can use these fly pattern sheets to tie your own flies or as a reference to put a name and fly picture together.

I decided to check my files and see which flies were most popular in 2017, either from clients or those I tied for myself. They are from the 150 dozen flies I completed last year.

River Flies

• Nymphs
  • Lightning Bug
  • $3 Dip
  • RiverKeeper Stonefly Nymph
• Mayfly Dry Flies
  • RiverKeeper Soft Hackle Cripple – PMD, Green Drake, March Brown
  • Sparkle Dun – BWO, PMD, Caudatella, Green Drake
  • Mayfly Cripple – Green Drake, March Brown
  • Rusty Spinner – Biot Body
  • Hatchmaster – Green Drake
• Caddis Dry Flies
  • Iris Caddis – Amber, Caddis Green
  • X Caddis – Olive, Tan
• Stonefly Dry Flies
  • Clark’s Lady Stone
• Other Attractor Flies
  • Parachute Adams
  • Purple Haze
  • Beetle Bailey/Beetle Betty

Lake Flies

• Callibaetis Mayflies
  • Fred’s Callibaetis Nymph
  • RiverKeeper Callibaetis Emerger
  • Fischer’s Callibaetis Cripple
  • Sparkle Dun Callibaetis
  • Hatchmaster Callibaetis
  • Callibaetis Spinner
• Other Lake Flies
  • Rufus
  • Beetle Bailey

That’s a pretty good list! I think it will keep me busy for a few weeks. You better start refilling fly boxes too.

As a reminder, I plan to  be in Boise, ID next week at the Western Idaho Fly Fishing Expo on January 12 & 13, 2018.

By the way, looking at my glass in the picture above, I’m almost out of Knob Creek. So if you feel the urge to replenish my stock, that’s one way to keep me tying flies! Pendleton Whiskey is acceptable as well!

Enjoy…go fish!