Charlie S wrote:
rw wrote:
I'll say a favorite fly box full of your favorite flies for your
favorite water. Store-bought flies, self-tied flies, friend's flies --
productive flies that you have confidence in, even if you don't know the
names or remember the lineage of most of them.

Anything else can be replaced with a lot of money and a little trouble.

Did exactly that last month on the upper Brazos, just below Whitney
Dam. Got caught in a strainer on my 'yak, and lost not only my fly
box, but my eyeglasses as well. :-( MUCH more upset about the
glasses, as I had paid $325 to have new lenses put in my favorite old
frames just 6 months prior. I have since fixed the problem of losing
the flies: I keep all my gear in an Orvis Safe Passage Sling Pack.
Keeps everything handy, but safe and out of the way until I want it.

I took a swim in the Pere Marquette a short while back. The canoe
got snagged on a submerged log and got sideways to the current at
which point the dog (that's right, I'm gonna blame it on the dog ;-)
decided to bail tipping one gunwale under water and sending me
flying out of the boat.

I floated downstream for what seemed like forever before my feet
finally hit bottom in water shallow enough to stand. Everything in
the canoe was secured and I managed to keep hat, glasses, lanyard
and, of course, the paddle with me during the swim. The only thing
I lost was a bunch of flies in one of my favorite fly boxes, a
Myran eight compartment. Thing is it was in my shirt pocket and if
I had just had the pocket flap buttoned I wouldn't have lost it.

--
Ken Fortenberry