A better fly patch

I don't like most fly patches. Wool patches tend to snag hooks and don't allow the fly to dry out properly leading to rusty hook points and foam patches don't often hold well and result in lost flies.

One of the better flykeepers commercially available is the Flytrap, a fly patch that folds up like a fly box and protects and prevents the loss of flies temporarily parked there. Vent holes on the side of the Flytrap allow the flies to dry preventing the rusting of hooks. This looks like a great product, but I wanted to see if I could design my own version that would work equally well and would be a great deal cheaper.

Materials required:

An Altoids or Sucrets tin, closed cell foam or evasote, paint, length of weed trimmer line, (optional)
refrigerator magnet material.

Instructions.

1)using an 1/8 in. drill bit drill 2 holes centered and about 1 inch apart in the side of the box opposite the hinge and close to the box bottom.(Fig. 1)
2)Next drill 2-3 holes along the short sides to act as air vents.(Fig.2)
3)Drill a smaller hole 1/16 in. centered below the hinge to serve as a drain.(Fig. 3)
4)Cut about a 3 inch length of weed trimmer line and melt a ball on one end.
5)Thread the line through one of the holes drilled on the long side opposite of the hinge.
6)Form a hanging loop by threading the other end of the line through the remaining hole.
7)Adjust the size of the loop , cut off any excess line, and melt the end.(Fig.4 )
8)Cut a piece of closed cell foam (or foam from an old foam fly patch)to fit in the lid of the box and attach it with double sided tape or rubber cement. (note): trim the foam so that the lid can close securely.(Fig.5)
9)Optional: to make the flykeeper more secure glue a piece of refrigerator magnet to the side opposite of the lid to catch any flies that come off of the foam patch.

Contruction notes:
1.box should be painted prior to drilling holes
2.the refrigerator magnet material I used came from an old calendar but material from a similar source will work as well.
To use the flykeeper attach to vest or pack and simply park your used flies on the foam patch and close the box. The magnetic material adds some insurance in case flies come out of the foam.

Figure 1. Detail of the hanging loop placement.	Figure 2. Air vents on side.	Figure 3. Drain hole

Figure 4. Hanging loop attachment.	Figure 5. Detail of inside of flykeeper.

Product review:

o:p> 

Scientific Anglers L2L leader connection system.

This is a new leader attachment system I have been interested in trying since it was announced last fall.  The system is composed of two parts a cone shaped part that attaches to the end of your flyline and a part that is attached to the end of the leader.  The line connectors come five to a package and come with a tool that makes it easy to install them on the line and to connect the leader to the line connector.  The leader connector can only be purchased already attached to a leader. 

Early on I can see some limitations to this new system. First there is a limited choice in leaders available, 9 foot leaders in 1x-7x tippet. Personally I would like to see leaders also available in the 7.5 foot standard length as well.  Another limitation of this system is not being able to use more specialized leaders or mini sink tip systems that need to be attached with a loop to loop connection.

On the plus side I found that attaching the line-end connector was quite easy. And the included tool made it easy to mate the two halves of the connection securely. Probably the biggest advantage of this system is not having to tie any complicated knots.

After fishing with the new connector system I have found that the system does have some advantages. The color of the connector helps in locating the end of the flyline better than loop connectors and does work ok as a strike indicator on a short line, but isn’t visible enough for fishing out beyond about 20 feet or in low light or deep shade.  The small amount of mass at the end of the line helped control “fly away” when I needed to gather in the leader to change flies. The connectors also don’t accumulate debris as easily as knotted or braided loop connectors.

The L2L Leader connectors are not for everyone or for every situation but if you need a no fuss leader connection and don’t change leaders frequently or don’t want to tie knots or are unsure of braided connectors these new connectors are definitely worth giving a try.