How to organize fly boxes 

For those who might write this off as unnecessary, I can attest that the time spent with one of these little scales is eye-opening. I used to organize my flies by bead size, but that doesn't account for variations in bead brands, hook weight, and material weight. My eyes don't always detect the difference between a 2.8mm and a 3.0mm bead, especially when it's tied on a fly, but the scale isn't deceived. I was surprised to see variations as much as a half grain in otherwise very similar patterns in my box. As Devin explains, you can identify critical gaps in your weight ranges and focus your tying efforts, adding lead if necessary or adjusting bead sizes. On the water, you make more informed fly choices as a result. Great stuff, thanks for shooting this video.

All great advanced technical tactical advice. I realize now how badly I need to organize. I also tend to limit my fly selection to a handful of productive patterns that I've been tying.

The scales are sometimes referred to as jeweler’s scale because they weigh tiny masses with them. Grains are common units for the ballistics crowd as well. A 22 caliber bullet is roughly 30 grains. To convert from grains to grams use the following 1 gram = 15.4 grains. Nice tutorial on how to organize the nymph box. I was attempting to EuroNymph a deep pocket and this type of organized fly box would have helped me dial-in a solution faster.

I weigh my nymphs on a scale by grains and put them in an order of bigger to smaller. I weight my tungsten beads and write the number in grains on the bags that they come in. I use different brands of beads so they do weigh differently. An example is, I use a small slotted tungsten beads and normal slotted beads and they do weigh differently. I write in pencil in my Fulling mill boxes on the paper that’s under the foams. This process has really helped me choose the correct weighted nymph while fishing. Love your videos, thanks!!!!

I knew that scale would come in handy again one day 😏

Thanks Devin! I think I kind of have my boxes all together but I am going to get a digital scale just to verify my weights and to be certain. I like how you have your sections labeled in your fly box.

Thanks Devin. The scale is a great idea.

Cool.great information Devin.thanks for sharing

Thank you Deven 🙏

Great video Devin. I am going to spend the winter reorganizing my kit

Thanks Devin! At the start of this video I thought, "I wonder if I could use a scale..." 😆 I have the best intentions sitting at the tying bench but in the heat of battle my boxes have become a mess! The labels are genius!

Thanks Devin ! I have been meaning to grab a grains scale, as just for curiosity as to what certain patterns weigh vs others. But I know that rabbit hole is calling me to jump down 😂 Great content as always man 👌🏼😎

Great tip on culling flies. I had boxes and boxes of flies I was not going to fish, didn't like the pattern, wasn't tied my best, etc etc. All just taking up space. Then I thought about how many hooks and beads I wasted, especially in some size and colors that I cannot get anymore. I spent a day at the vise with a box knife and a lighter and went to town. Now I am more organized and focused on weight being my primary reason for choosing a fly. I can get super picky when I am not Euronymphing, but efficiency rules that day when slinging beads.

I have also added a NEW box so that new flies don’t get lost in the shuffle. This works very well.

Great content Devin!

Thanks!! Looking forward to the next one on dries! :-)

You are incredible 🤪👍

Excellent explanation and video of your approach and logic.

Devin I have struggled with this very issue!! This makes alot of sense, I settled on organizing by bead size with a label maker in the FM boxes. But as you mentioned the type may not adjust the weight?? An OCD night mare for me now!!!!!!! Lol. I can see I need more tag nymphs to.. Great job

Great video. I struggle when changing flies from say a Frenchie to a Walts Worm knowing if they will sink the same to get to the same depth. Having them sorted by weight would be a huge benefit. I might look into picking up a scale for sorting my fly boxes. Thanks

Where would I buy a box that has flies that are sorted

This soothes my Type A personality. What boxes are you using? Why do you choose the type boxes you use (volume, waterproof, etc)?

my problem is that im new to tying and fly fishing been at it for a year so i get my boxs organized then two weeks later i have a 100 new flys to use lol

So does the size of the hook ie 16-20 just become part of weight calculation? Or do also organize by hook size?

Devin, nice video with some great pointers. On another note could you share the type or brand of fly boxes you displayed in the video. Thanks

Hey Devin. Thanks for the video.. What do you do with your "used" nymphs while fishing.. For example, when you make a change, do you put it back in the box, or do you store it somewhere to dry out and re-weigh it??

I want one of those black boxes that you use for your heavy boxes.where can I get one ? I don't get out much anymore so I'm scaling down and that box is perfect

Hello Devin, great video as usual, just curious about why bead manufacturaters doesn't include the weight of the beads in the package, it would be very useful, is easy or better to weight in grains and not in grams? The thing is that before your video I use to weight in grams but in grains you get less fraction numbers and Im seeing that is better. Last thing, I saw in your website that the weight of a slotted tungsten in 2mm is a little heavier (1gr) than an inverting one (.8gr), is that correct? Sorry for my english and such much questions and thanks again for your great work

Great video Devin. Question for you. In a specific range (say 2-2.4) do you have them in ascending order like all 2.0s are together and then you start with 2.1s then 2.2a etc or is just any fly in that zone is somewhere between 2-2.4? Thanks

Thanks Devin. I have organised my box (notice singular) based on bead size then with in bead size, fastest to slowest sinking. However after watching your video I have this sinking feeling that for a given bead size, the weight may vary. By example, can I assume all 2mm beads will have the same weight? Thanks

great video! question, what do you find is your most utilized weight ranges for the most encountered water conditions? id imagine this is reflected in having the greater # of flies in those ranges and having broken up the wide range into smaller segments. that is if lets say 3.0 to 4.5 was your most utilized range, do you break it into 3.0 to 3.2 3.3 to 3.5 3.7 to 3.9 so you can be more granular in your selection? just curious what ranges you find more effective for the most common conditions and if you have more quantity of those flies and how you chop up the range. thx.

So as you tie to fill up the wholes in the boxes, are you planning on measuring weight of material before tying the pattern. Since we are talking grams and trying to hit a certain range then I would think there must be some pre-planning??

Thanks Devin. Is there an advantage to using grains vs grams etc

Devin, would you talk about bead color choice? i noticed that you have some of the same flies with silver, brass, pink, and some "hot" beads in there too. Noticed a few black/dark beads there at the end too. What factors do you consider when choosing which bead color to fish?

Am I right in that most of your flies are tied with offset beads and not as many slotted?

Very Helpful! Could you give the brand of the label maker - and where to get it?

Best thing about this was seeing that not all of your perdgion c.d.l. tails where straight, I hate tying those pesky tails ha-ha. Thanks for great content as usual

Hi what do you consider a tag nymph pattern? Do you only fish them as tag or do you put them on point? When fishing a single fly do you use tag nymph patterns? Do you only use tag nymphs for tag flies or would you use other patterns?

Devin, will your shop now list the grain weight for flies you sell? For those of us who don’t tie, the trick will be to fill in gaps in our boxes. Hook size is not the right metric when selecting flies at a shop, yet that is how flies are organized in their bins. Maybe I need to start bringing my scale with me to the shop? I know you show bead size, but grain weight would be even better.

Curious: after your winter organization, did you end up with less fly boxes than before, or more?

My boxes are not show pieces. Been flyfishing 63 years. I know which boxes are which and when I open them at a glance I find what I want. Making evrrything too technical today. Gotta have $1000 rods, $ 500 reels, and gotta have boxes like show pieces. Oh well

Thanks for sharing Devin. What type of scale do you use and where can folks source the scale. Thanks again.

I need a streamer fly box tutorial BADLY

So with euronymphing you dont match the fly size to the actual bug size. You just match your weight to depth? Interesting. Crazy how it is all the opposite of what people traditionally do nynphing

To bad i don't use any weighted flies