Tackle, including fly rods, reels, lines and leaders, are not covered in this course.  There is a separate course for each of these topics.

Fly boxes

The fly box is a mandatory item of equipment for the purpose of holding your flies.  The most useful are designed to fit into a pocket in your fly fishing vest or shirt.  It is common for several to be owned and used regularly by fly fishers.

There are many different styles, shapes, sizes and materials available.   They range from small, plain plastic boxes, to multi-compartment metal boxes with spring-loaded tops, to elaborate and beautiful pieces of art, to "suitcase" size with handles.  They come with individual, open compartments; without compartments they hold fly hooks in place with foam, rubber, clips, or other substances; others are fleece lined.

The key question for the beginning fly fisher is to determine what kinds of flies are likely to get the most use and then acquire fly boxes to suit such flies.  (In other words, don't buy boxes first and then flies just to fit the boxes.)  We suggest you start simply and inexpensively.   Unless you will be solely a big fly and/or saltwater fly fisher, you will probably want to choose boxes that will fit in your vest or shirt pocket; are sturdy; and if compartmentalized, are large enough to not "smash" the flies; and that are made specifically for the purpose of holding flies. 

In that most fly fishers separate their flies by their type, we recommend you begin with one or two boxes for dry flies, one for nymphs, and one perhaps for streamers and wet flies. 

Larger flies, for saltwater and/or larger freshwater fish species, will require bigger boxes.  These are much too large to fit in a vest or shirt, and are normally carried in a boat.  For the most part, these are heavy-duty plastic with large compartments.

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