What's In Your Fly Box?

My flybox for 2012

With the begining of trout season just around the corner, I have been giving a lot of thought to what my fly box should be filled with (I will only be talking about my freshwater fly box because my saltwater only has various clousers and blondes in it).  I have never been a "match the hatch" kind of guy....I'm not a big fan of spending more time changing flies than actually fishing.  As a tenkara angler I have been fascinated with the "one/any fly" approach but have shied away from that extreme as well for two reasons. One, with one fly, I don't feel prepared enough.  The second reason is that I love to tie flies....and tying only one pattern would get boring pretty fast.  So for this year I have elected to go with only one fly box (a small 3"x5" Flambeau foam box) to cover all types of fish and situations I may face.  During the year I may find myself fishing for small stream brookies, browns and rainbows in tailwaters and stocked lakes and bass and bluegill in shallow weedy ponds.  I wanted to reduce the number of flies I use so that I might concentrate more on my actual technique. For me, it would be a challenge to get all the flies that I felt I would need into such a small flybox and cover a wide range of waters and conditions. The following list of flies is my attempt to meet this challenge.

#12 Royal Sakasa Kebari and #12 Pheasant and Black Sakasa Kebari

Killer Bugs and #12 Kiwi's Killers

#12 Bead Head Royal Sakasa Kebari's

Wooly Buggers

#16 Usuals

#12 Bubble Kebari and extra kebari for specific locations...empty spaces are for flies from swaps or experimental flies

#16 "BWO" sakasa kebari's (olive thread and starling hackle)

I figure my Royal Sakasa Kebari and Pheasant & Black SK to be my "work horses" and the ones I will use in almost all situations.  I plan to use the Killer Bugs when fishing the tail waters of Westchester County and the Nissequogue R.  The Kiwi's Killer is my one fly for fishing ponds for bass and bluegill.  If I'm going dry I always prefer a Usual.  The Wooly buggers are perfect for the large bass I encounter and anything else that is not satisfied with just a few tiny bugs.  The bead heads will be good for when I need to get a fly down deep  and quickly. Throw in a few smaller #16's and leave some room for a few experimental flies, an Ausable bomber or flies from a swap and I think I have a box that's good to go......or at least that's what I think.  Who knows, the real judges are waiting for me out in the various ponds and streams I plan to visit in the coming season.  Even if this box is not the "ultimate fly box" that's OK the challenge and spending time outdoors is what's most important.