Fly Boxes

My first tackle box had a flip up handle which could be held fairly upright under my bike handlebar along with my rod. It held lots of stuff, mostly bobbers & lead weights, snelled hooks and a small knife along with some marbles and even an odd army figure.

As i progressed my aunt & uncle bought me a fiberglass Sears set up (Zebco i think?) it had a closed bail and it worked most of the time. I split my time between a small pond & a large one. The small one was Thomas Paine's home pond, it was shallow and mostly filled with sunnies or the occasional cat fish, turtle or bass.

I would dig up some worms and peddle down with a furry. The fishing was always good (or it just seems that way in hindsight). I love sunnies b/c they are eager willing fish and a good fight for the size.

Today fly boxes are a thing of beauty (& the associated costs). I have one i generally fish and one that never leaves the house. I have one that when i open it i just can't bear to take any flies out as they all look perfect as they are in their rows & by colors. I have a 6 pane Whitley (a really small box) which is perfect for a summer shirt and several w/ rubber gaskets all of which are plastic boxes.

One that predates most is an old Orvis plastic with ripple foam insert, this one was damaged by a plastic worm left on top of it which melted into the plastic (this seems to happen a lot, does anyone know what this is all about?). I don't recall buying or how i got this Orvis box, it held old (really old) traditional flies, like Parma Belle and other bright gaudy flies which I did not initially fish and now thankfully have about a dozen left which i just look at once in a while. Hard to believe fish would ever go for some of these but that is how it was...

I have 2 other old (50+ year old) flies one is a Hornberg in the original package from a company in Wisconsin and the other is the largest fly i have ever seen, It looks like a modern tan Wulff dry fly but the hackle could easily hide a silver dollar. The hook is about a 2 or a 4 & i don't know if it would actually float but i guess i can't really risk loosing it.

Fran Betters once scolded me (well he recommended) that you not buy flies to look at, they are meant to be used in (or on) the water only & i think this is good advise but sometimes i just like to watch...