This was my first fly box. Things were pretty simple then. I don’t remember how I came across the “Plano Micro Magnum.” There is a good chance that I bought it at The Sports Authority. I can say with great certainty that it was inexpensive, that I didn’t deliberate over the choice, and that I was just looking for something to hold the dozen or so flies I owned. The Plano did that just fine.
Dry flies went in some compartments; nymphs went into others. On the reverse side I kept some big streamers. This arrangement still afforded me enough space to drop in a few split shot and strike indicators.
All my flies, and some tackle, all in one place.
In hindsight, that wasn’t so bad. When you only have so much you can only use so much. Furthermore, you only have so much to carry. It made sense to me. And believe it or not, I still managed to catch fish.
Things were, after all, pretty simple then. I only had one fly box. I only knew about one river. I only knew that fly fishing involved doing your best to make sure the fake bug didn’t look fake. I didn’t know about the tomes of techniques and history. I didn’t know of the countless and varied angling opportunities. I didn’t know enough to realize that my fly box wasn’t even really a fly box.
Soon enough my eyes began to open to the full breadth of what fly fishing entailed. Books from the library, magazine subscriptions, and loitering around fly shops educated me. Casts, rivers, hatches, rod weights, retrieve styles, brand names, fly patterns… it was overwhelming.
In all of that, I went out and bought another Plano Micro Magnum. (This one was translucent orange, for some forgotten reason.) Now I had a dry box and a nymph/streamer box.
My awareness of fishing grew and grew as the real estate in my little fly boxed shrank and shrank. The strike indicators and split shot had to go. I procured tubs and bags for these specific purposes. More concerning, hackles that were once protected were at risk of deformation. And that was the final straw.
I walked into the fly shop and pored over which box to get. Ripple foam or metal clips? Compact or over-sized? I bought something, but I can’t remember what it was. It was just the next fly box in a long line of fly box purchases.
The Plano boxes kept serving me as nymph and streamer boxes. Eventually I got tired of digging through piles of flies. All my trout patterns moved into new homes. The Micro Magnums found purpose, for a while, as egg boxes for Great Lakes steelhead. Soon, even that collection of simple patterns grew to the point where I needed something else. So the old boxes went into storage.
The boxes haves moved from state to state to state with me. They’re still in great shape; a testament to American manufacturing. Right now, I don’t think I’ll use them anytime soon. Maybe my boys will fill them with who knows what. Or, they could just remain as momentos of my fly fishing past. They’d look good as part of a home or office decorations. Perhaps a small personal angling exhibit. Something like that would be fun; it would be pretty simple, and something I wouldn’t have to deliberate over very much.
