Fly Fishing Insider Podcast
An ordinary safety pin makes a free fly dryer. Thread used flies onto the pin through the hook eye, let them air dry, and pin it to a pack strap. By the end of the day the pin holds a stack of every fly fished, in the order fished, which becomes a record of how the day progressed.
Also on Apple Podcasts · Spotify · YouTube
How do you dry flies without buying a fly dryer?
A safety pin works as a fly dryer for a few cents. The wire point slides through the hook eye, and flies threaded onto the pin dry in open air while fishing continues. Carry two sizes, because the point on a large pin will not fit the eye on smaller hooks and a smaller pin covers those.
How does a safety pin keep a fly selection organized?
One safety pin holds the confidence flies picked for the day, threaded on before leaving the truck, so the go-to patterns are on the outside of the pack instead of buried in a box. On a flats day that might mean a few green crab patterns for grassy bottom alongside sand-colored flies for lighter bottom, staged and ready to swap.
Why does a used-fly pin work as a fishing log?
The second safety pin takes each fly as it comes off the tippet, so the stack builds in the order it was fished. At the end of the day the pin shows the whole progression: what was tried, when the change was made, and what stayed on longest. Photographing the pin with a phone turns that into a dated, located record of what a stretch of unfamiliar water produced.
How do you keep a safety pin from stabbing you?
File the point of the safety pin down slightly before putting it into use. A blunted point still passes through a hook eye but stops jabbing a hand reaching into a pack. Once loaded, clip the pin to a sling strap, shoulder strap or pack panel where it stays visible and out of the way.
Where does a safety pin fly dryer help most?
The safety pin came out of saltwater use, particularly do-it-yourself trips and long hikes around flats where there is no place to set gear down and salt water is soaking every fly. It carries over to night fishing, where a small pre-selected stack of mouse patterns on a pin removes the need to root through a bag or pocket in the dark.
Key takeaways
- Carry two safety pins in different sizes so the point fits both large and small hook eyes.
- Use one pin for the day's confidence flies and a second pin for flies already fished.
- File the point of the pin slightly so it does not jab a hand reaching into the pack.
- Photograph the used-fly pin at the end of the day to log which patterns produced on unfamiliar water.
- Pin the loaded safety pin to a shoulder strap or pack panel rather than inside a pocket.
- Pre-load a pin with mouse patterns for night fishing so fly changes happen without digging in the dark.
