The box, which is made of aluminium and well handled and patinated measures 3.5 inches by 2.5inches. Obviously very well used it would easily fit in a shirt pocket or the top pocket of a jacket, waterproof or not.
Inside the box are six compartments with pop-up lids and thirteen different tried and tested fly names indicating the contents of each compartment on the lid. I'm convinced that the previous owner fished a chalk stream in Hampshire such as the Dever, Test or Itchen especially with that River Test speciality the 'Houghton Ruby' mentioned at the top left.
The flies, all dry flies bar a couple of wets, seem to range from a hook size 14 right through to a rather small size 22 for the Smuts, if the previous owner tied them he had better eyesight than I have. Now do I use them if I ever get the chance? Yes, I reckon I do, even if it is only as a homage to a fly fisherman who now fishes somewhere very different.
Mind you I don't think I could tie some of the smallest flies onto the cast without a magnifier.
I'll bet that box can tell a few stories too.
John that is so cool. One of my passions is old fly boxes. That one appears to be a Wheatley box.
ReplyDeleteThe flies gave the angler a wide choice and should cover many situations.
Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteGood morning Alan, You are quite right, it is a Wheatley box. Very well used and worn. Some of the flies are absolutely minute. I have, somewhere in a safe place again, some Coch-y-Bhondhu that were given to me by an old boy I met while fishing a mountain lake in Snowdonia and they are tied as both dry and wet versions. He said to fish them on the small streams and rivers but they are brilliant on massive reservoirs too. Strange how some flies seem to have been touched by a magic wand! All the best, John