Having a fly box is essential to keeping your flies accessible on the river. The type of fly box to use is definitely debatable and again, personal preference is the most common method of approval. There are thousands of different fly boxes each with a different composition. These boxes range from penetrable foam, micro-slit foam, plastic compartment, hinged doors, magnetic, grooved tabs, any many others. The main types are compartment, foam, and micro-slit foam.

Compartment fly boxes were the original design conceived by anglers for managing their flies on the water. Simply, they are fly boxes with a hinged shell where one or both sides have latched compartments for storing flies. These fly boxes are good for both dry flies and nymphs but they offer very little in terms of organization.

Foam fly boxes were created to hold flies by their hook points along recessed grooves in the foam. These fly boxes allow the angler to place the flies in a specific arrangement. These allow for more organization than compartment boxes however the foam is punctured as the flies are loaded into the box and eventually the foam wears out.

Micro-slit foam boxes are the product of modern foam fly box evolution. The slits found in the foam allow the angler to place the flies into the fly box without puncturing the foam. These boxes allow for the same level of organization as traditional foam boxes without the degradation of the foam. The tension imposed on the hooks by the sides of the slits hold the flies in place.