In today’s market of fly fishing equipment, there are dozens of fly box manufactures to choose from. Along with many choices of fly boxes, there are many types such as plastic, foam, metal, and wood. To make things even more diverse, the inside of fly boxes can differ greatly with many types of materials used to store the individual flies. It almost seems the individual manufactures did their very best to vary the market.If you’ve been a fly fisherman as long as I have, then you know exactly what works for you. All it takes is one trip to the fly shop to find out how expensive they are, but I personally believe it isn’t necessary to spend a drift boat full of money…especially on a fly box that you might not like. With some common sense you can get a neat looking, functional fly box that works for you.
These are the strongest deciding factors I would use when buying a fly fishing box:
- In my opinion, you have to be happy with the outside appearance. Our sport has become more like an art form, and some of our equipment reflects this with precision and the look of artwork.
- You should keep in mind that a very significant part of fly fishing is having a great-looking artificial fly that fish will respond well to. Having a fly box that protects the artificial flies inside it should be a very crucial part of your decision.
- The latching mechanism is also a very important part of the equation in my opinion. I always fly fish in rivers where hatches change and moods of fish change at a whim, so I sometimes need to change flies at a moment's notice. This means that I can’t fumble with a difficult latch. When I was younger, I lost a few fly boxes to the river due to that.
- Cost
Cost should of course be considered, but don’t be totally driven by it. What I mean by this is, if you're happy with a fly box that meets the previous criteria, and you’ve price compared other fly boxes you were happy with…lay down the bucks and go fishing.
