a few versatile fly tying solutions that I really like

Great Question, I contemplated this a lot before I tackled mine. I think you probably can get a list of materials pretty easily if you don’t already have that figured out - but the question is how much space do you need, how easy to reach and what are some good solutions for storage and accessibility?

So I looked at a few versatile solutions that I really like. There are some “fly tying furniture” pieces out there that are pretty handy. A spool caddy/carousel is nice for visibility and access - I have a lot of spools but tend to use 5–6 more than others so I leave them on the bobbin and swap in/out of my spool storage as needed. I also use 2 fly box caddy boxes, they each hold 6 of the slim fly boxes one has all my hooks and one has all my weighted heads/beads. Small at the top, bigger at the bottom…easy to look through without opening and always within reach.

I use a tool caddy on my desktop from White River so my most often used stuff sits in it on my desk, everything else can be to the side, on shelves, in drawers where I can see them but they’re not actually “out”. It’s only about 8 inches wide and maybe 6 inches deep so fairly small.

I also highly recommend finding a Gerstner Machinists toolbox. I keep this for 2 uses. It has drawers all along the front and wide ones at the bottom for hackles, flash packages, deer hair, and peacock hurls (and it looks cool). Smaller drawers can hold all manner of stuff. THE BEST PART is that you can load this toolbox up as a mobile tying box - it will hold more than you need. I’ve never taken it on a plane just loaded it into my SUV so when I take a lunch or in the evening, I can tie up whatever they seem to be hitting on.

Hemingway makes some awesome dubbing dispensers that use a clear plastic channeled dispenser that again, has high visibility so you can see all your dubbing colors and blends easily and pick what you want to use.

This makes your entire setup sort of “modular” so you can store a lot but keep it from getting crazy messy. I have a screen for my PC flush-mounted on the wall behind my desk so I can watch fly tying tutorials while I tie...

One last thing I recommend is a vertical drawer that you can find on a kitchen supply or cabinet supply web store. They are prebuilt so all you have to do is build the pocket for them and they allow you to hang materials on the pegboard hooks so when extended, it looks like the fly shop display, and when you are done - push it back in and it’s just a drawer face.

Article source: https://article-realm.com/article/Travel-Leisure/Aviation/4635-a-few-versatile-fly-tying-solutions-that-I-really-like.html