# What do you do with used flies?



## mavdog32 (Apr 5, 2019)

Did a quick search and didnt see much so I'll ask the question....

What do you all do with flies you used for a day on the water? Mine get a little beat up and they get dropped in the used fly box but I've never done anything with them. 

Do you clean then up and put then back in the box? Mount them in a frame cause it caught so many dang fish? Toss them? Break them down to recover hooks and mats?

Thanks for humoring me, very interested to see the consensus!


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## FlyWeight (Dec 18, 2017)

I have a little bucket I put mine in. Anytime I go out in the yard to practice, I'll break the hook off and tie one of those old flies on so that I get a true feeling of how that rod/line performs when a fly is tied on vs. just casting a line and leader.


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## SomaliPirate (Feb 5, 2016)

I lie and tell people I actually caught fish on them.


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## bryson (Jun 22, 2015)

Mine usually get put in my hat or a half-full water bottle until I get home, then they are rinsed and set out to dry. Once they are dry I put them back in the box with my other flies -- I don't really differentiate between used and unused flies.

Flies that have sentiment for some reason get saved and put on the wall in my tying space.


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## MatthewAbbott (Feb 25, 2017)

Mine go onto a wine cork that’s on my boat key to dry and keep track of. I’ll rinse them off when I get home and let them dry again before they go back in the box. 

On beat up flies or ones that did t work out like I’d hoped; I’ll cut the hooks and eyes off if they are still good to reuse.


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## tailwalk (Nov 20, 2016)

Used flies get separated and if proven on prior trips or successful on the current one they'll get a freshwater bath at the end of the day before rejoining the box. "Test" flies will get broken down for parts or clipped for practice flies.


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## Andrew Jones (Mar 22, 2016)

Rinse and use again...


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## Cape 914 (Jul 4, 2017)

On beat up flies I use on bluefish.


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## Jacob Schmanske (Aug 13, 2018)

Depends on how bad they are. Some I'll fix up and make them look pretty again. Some I retire and some I just never use again and throw them to the side.


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## ERK (Mar 6, 2019)

I just throw em in the cooler. By the end of the trip, that melted ice water has rinsed them off. When it's time to unpack the cooler, the used flies are just set on the work bench in the garage to dry and put back in the fly box next day (or whenever).


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## mavdog32 (Apr 5, 2019)

You all are making me wonder if I have jacked up casting. Sometimes I'll have flies come apart just during the course of the day at worst.


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## mavdog32 (Apr 5, 2019)

I def like some of the ideas though, thanks for the input!


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## hipshot (Sep 29, 2018)

I carry a 5" plastic pill vial full of fresh water. They go in there, and get a rerinse and dry at the end of the day. I have literally caught hundreds of fish on some of my flies. I should add, I tie most of my flies with .005 monofilament. At each stage of the tie I coat the mono with Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails. As I wrap the head I apply periodic coats as I build it up; those dog teeth the specks have don't faze the wraps. When the flies get too raggedy I cut off the old materials and retie them, unless the hook is showing oxidation. The flies I tie with marabou suffer the quickest deaths; the craft fur crickets do pretty well. I use a lot of Sally's, but my flies are definitely tough. If it wasn't for specks and ladyfish, they'd last forever.


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## Guest (Nov 6, 2019)

mavdog32 said:


> Did a quick search and didnt see much so I'll ask the question....
> 
> What do you all do with flies you used for a day on the water? Mine get a little beat up and they get dropped in the used fly box but I've never done anything with them.
> 
> ...


Never, ever put used flies back in the fly box [assuming saltwater usage] until completely rinsed. I put all day's working flies into water bottles until I can thoroughly rinse and dry them. If they're spent, you can break off the point [as someone already suggested] and use for practising.


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## Guest (Nov 6, 2019)

SomaliPirate said:


> I lie and tell people I actually caught fish on them.


I say that we all save our used flies and send them all to SomaliPirate!


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## Tailer (Jan 10, 2017)

Permit and poon flies get recycled after one use, most everything else is carefully rinsed and put back in the box.


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## Doublehaul (Oct 3, 2015)

s


mavdog32 said:


> You all are making me wonder if I have jacked up casting. Sometimes I'll have flies come apart just during the course of the day at worst.


sounds more like tying issue than casting issue. Unless you're slamming rocks or bridges with them over and over they shouldn't be falling apart just from casting. Toothy critters are, of course, another matter. Are you gluing the head? good thread tension?


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## Doublehaul (Oct 3, 2015)

mavdog32 said:


> Did a quick search and didnt see much so I'll ask the question....
> 
> What do you all do with flies you used for a day on the water? Mine get a little beat up and they get dropped in the used fly box but I've never done anything with them.
> 
> ...


rinse, dry and use again.


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## mavdog32 (Apr 5, 2019)

Haven't ventured into that world yet, not for lack of interest but for lack of time! I will soon though....


Doublehaul said:


> s
> 
> sounds more like tying issue than casting issue. Unless you're slamming rocks or bridges with them over and over they shouldn't be falling apart just from casting. Toothy critters are, of course, another matter. Are you gluing the head? good thread tension?


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## eightwt (May 11, 2017)

Really bad tore up ones end up in a bucket and get tossed. Others get put on a piece of foam with slits that is on a boat box, and the ones I remove from rods at end of day usually end up in the tray between suv seats.


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## trekker (Sep 19, 2015)

Give mine to the kids fishing the little quarry by my house. They throw em with spinning gear.


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

We chew up a lot of flies each year and here’s how we deal with the ones that survive... Each fly that’s been used is collected at the end of the day -then rinsed carefully in freshwater and allowed to dry. Flies that are still in good shape are sleeved and returned to service. Ones that need to be re-done are separated out go on my fly tying desk for re-cycling (only if the hook is still good). If the hook has started to rust the materials (some of them) might be removed and then tied back onto a new hook if possible. Otherwise a fly with a rusted hook goes in the round file.

Back when I was teaching fly tying I told my students that if the fish refused a fly (no matter how good it looked...)... Then it did not belong in their fly box at all...


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## Guest (Nov 7, 2019)

trekker said:


> Give mine to the kids fishing the little quarry by my house. They throw em with spinning gear.


Great idea! I used to run into a kid on the river that never seemed to have what was working. I gave him a half dozen of the "fly de jur" and we became best friends after that [until he showed up with a cast on his casting arm from skateboarding].


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## Jred (Sep 22, 2013)

If I use a fly and it doesn’t work well I sacrifice it to the local flybrary


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## jay.bush1434 (Dec 27, 2014)

I rinse and repeat until it is beat up too much. If I can salvage the eyes or hook I'll cut it off and re-use them. Otherwise get tossed in the garbage.


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## tailwalk (Nov 20, 2016)

tailwalk said:


> Used flies get separated and if proven on prior trips or successful on the current one they'll get a freshwater bath at the end of the day before rejoining the box. "Test" flies will get broken down for parts or clipped for practice flies.


Forgot to mention one specific used fly. My dad is the one who got me into fishing in general, and later into fly fishing as he has done my whole life. Growing up there was a juvie tarpon that he had mounted as a kid. That memory triggered the tarpon bug in me early on. So, the fly I tied that caught my first tarpon was gifted to him. By far my best used fly.


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## HelthInsXpert (Jan 24, 2018)

Stick em on a flybrary or just keep using them! I find a worn in fly works better sometimes.


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## crboggs (Mar 30, 2015)

Mason jar on the tying desk...never know when you might need to recycle a hook...


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## FlyBy (Jul 12, 2013)

hipshot said:


> I should add, I tie most of my flies with .005 monofilament. At each stage of the tie I coat the mono with Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails.


I tie with mono tying thread and coat each step with Softex. The flies don't come apart and I use them over and over.


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