Plan D Articulated Fly Boxes

Plan D Articulated Fly Box for Articulated Flies. — *From left to right; Plan D Articulated PACK, BOAT, and POCKET Boxes. Photos: Kyle Shea.*

From swinging flies for anadramous fish, to banging the banks with streamers, to skating mouse flies for trout, we fish a lot of articulated and stinger-style flies over the course of the year. However, until now we’ve yet to find a great way to store them.

We’ve long been fans of simple Plano Boxes for housing the majority of our flies, particularly larger patterns. They do a great job of housing a whole bunch of flies, but the errant nature of articulated flies that gives them their uninhibited action in the water can also make a mess out of your box. Reach for one fly and pull out a mess of a dozen entangled stinger hooks and bunny strips.. Sound familiar?

Large slotted foam fly boxes finally gave way to a long lasting solution to carrying large flies in a reasonably compact manner, but still, articulated flies tend to swing freely, often becoming dislodged from their slot, resulting in a disaster (or at least a few lost flies) upon opening your box. Also, being entirely flat, slotted foam boxes have the tendency to mash up the materials on the underside of the fly, particularly on larger patterns tied ‘in the round..’ You know, like that intruder that took you forty five minutes to tie.

That’s why we were excited when we first got wind of a series of fly boxes designed specifically for articulated flies by the good folks at Plan D Fishing Solutions. They work pretty darn slick, so today we thought we’d tell you about them.

We often say that simplicity is a key factor in quality gear, and Plan D’s articulated boxes feature a simple but super clever way to house both articulated or stinger-style fly patterns. Like most ‘large fly’ boxes available today, the boxes consist of a large slotted foam designed for the hook to be slid between allowing flies to be taken in and out without damaging the foam.

However, unlike other fly boxes, the articulated boxes feature small stainless steel ‘hooks’ at both the top and bottom of the box designed to grab the eye of the fly.

To house a fly, simply hook the eye of the fly to the stainless hook at the top (or bottom) of the box and slide the stinger hook into the corresponding slot in the foam (see photo below). This allows the fly to be anchored at two separate points, thus keeping it from swinging around. Plus, because the stainless hooks are mounted on an elevated piece of foam, the fly remains suspended, thus preventing the materials on the underside of the fly from being flattened (a feature we really, really like).

Currently, Plan D offers articulated versions of their boxes in several different sizes including the three shown above (from smallest to largest); the POCKET, the PACK and our personal favorite the BOAT box. They retail for $24.99, $34.99, and $69.99 respectively and can be found at your nearest Plan D Dealer. For more information visit Plan D’s website by clicking right here.