Function over fashion

An example of a box I might roll with on the river. The one pictured is somewhat more impressive (and dry), although equally as messy as the one in my story.

This is one that I wrote a while back. The story tells better in person than what it does here but you will get the idea.

I was at a gathering last night w a bunch of guys w boxes full of beautiful flies. Although beautiful, I would be hesitant to use many of them, some were too pretty, most overdressed, many too heavy but beautiful nonetheless. I was forced to head to the truck to grab and share my sad looking, sparse, mostly wet smattering of the flies I’d been fishing.

I framed it up with "This is all I've been fishing . . . .” Everyone passed the box around and kind of went silent or poked around, picking the odd one up for further inspection. One guy looked and said “ahh nice but what flies do you use with your clients" I nearly fell on the floor laughing. This was what I had and I felt totally adequate out on the river with this modest selection. I tie hundreds of dozens of flies a year and never seem to accumulate very many for my personal fishing.

The flies that I tie for anadromous fish are a combo of Castability (needs to be easy to cast.) Profile (sometimes I want a thin sleek profile sometimes robust and bushy.) Durability (tied in a manner that they will last a while) and every material in the fly plays a function.

function over fashion my friend, function over fashion.