Fly Fishing Insider Podcast
Write your phone number, name or initials on every piece of fly fishing gear with a permanent marker. Fly boxes get a number inside and out, wading boots get marked where the label will not scrape off, and packs get marked in the same spot every time. Labeled gear comes back; unlabeled gear does not.
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Why should you put your name on fly fishing gear?
Marking fly fishing gear turns a lost item into a returned item. The habit came from a climbing partner who carried a Sharpie everywhere and labeled everything he owned, and who once had a crash pad left in the backcountry hand-delivered to his house weeks later because a stranger read the name on it. The same logic applies to anything an angler sets down on a bank, in a boat or in a lodge mudroom.
Should you write your name or your phone number on a fly box?
A phone number works better than a name on a fly box, because a phone number is actionable and a name is not. The recommendation is to write the number on the inside of the box and on the outside, so it is visible whether the box is found open or closed. Most anglers who pick up a lost fly box will see the number and call.
What happens when you do not label a fly box?
A box of wet flies given as a gift early in a fly fishing career was lost within days of being received, with no phone number written in it and no way for a finder to return it. That single loss is the reason the labeling habit stuck. Marking a fly box takes seconds and costs nothing; replacing a full box of flies does not.
How do you keep your wading boots from getting mixed up at a lodge?
Wading boots at a lodge are a common mix-up because a whole group often turns up in the same size and the same handful of popular models. On one lodge trip in Belize, every pair in the drying area looked identical and there was no way to be sure which boots came back to which angler. Initials or a name written on the boots solves it, and paying attention to exactly where the boots were set down is the backup plan.
Where on wading boots does a written name actually last?
The heel of a wading boot is the natural place to write a name, but it is also the spot most likely to wear off, because most anglers pull boots off by stepping on the heel with the other foot and scraping the marker away. Writing higher on the boot upper, or in a second spot as well, keeps the marking readable through a season of use.
Why do wading bags and packs get mixed up on group trips?
Wading bags are as interchangeable as boots on a group trip. On a trip to Arkansas fishing the White River out of a rental house, the whole group had packed the same style of bag, and sorting out whose was whose at the end of the week came down to which bag had a rip in it. Writing a name or phone number on every pack, bag and dubbing container, always in the same location so you know where to look, avoids the whole argument.
Key takeaways
- Carry a permanent marker and write your phone number on fly boxes, inside and out - a number gets a call, a name usually does not.
- Mark wading boots with initials or a name; at a lodge, most of the group will be wearing the same size and model.
- Write on the boot upper as well as the heel, because the heel gets scraped clean when you step off your own boots.
- Label wading bags and packs before a group trip - identical bags are the most common gear mix-up at the end of a week.
- Put the marking in the same spot on every piece of gear so you always know where to look for it.
- Extend the habit past the obvious items - dubbing containers, tools and small accessories all go missing too.
