The Ghetto Streamer Box

OK...here's the deal. Streamers are really valuable and they can get royally screwed up if you don't care for them properly. Case in point...the box that I've been using for a while now which is in horrible shape. In its defense, it's really old. This is how it typically looks when I open it streamside. A clusterfuck. Streamers get tangled like they're mating. They get ruffled and don't present like they should. Just bad all around. The other issue is that I haven't started my new job yet and, even if I had, I'd have a hard time throwing down 40 bones for a decent fly box. So...I visited the crafts store with all the blue hairs to see what I could dig up. 

I eventually found these clear boxes. They are for holding pictures I guess but who the hell has glossy pics anymore? They come in a variety of sizes so pick one that ya dig.

It took a lot of searching to find a suitable foam material to line the box with but Heather finally hit pay dirt. These are like 10" pieces of cork and they are supposed to be mini bulletin boards.

The foam is on the uhhhh backside. It's 1/4" thick. Perfect. With box and foam I'm in like 7 bones.

Back in the lab I flipped the opened box onto the foam and traced the pattern.

This spot was a beyotch so I pushed down real hard and left an indentation in the foam and cut this first.

This is the foam and cork after it's been cut. By the way you can also get sheets of just the foam but I liked the cork for a reason which I'll explain in a bit.

Then I determined how I wanted to hold the flies. I think a lot of this will depend on how big your streamers are. I took some measurements and then decided that I wanted the flies spaced out every half inch. I laid all my marks with the aforementioned pen and a straight edge.

I sprung for a nice sharp exacto knife. I made the cuts that will hold the flies right at 3/16" deep all the way down.

Here I am done with the cuts. So each vertical cut (when placed in the box) is 3/16" deep and there's 1/2" on the top and bottom where I stopped the cuts. This is the reason I dig the cork backing. You don't cut all the way through the foam. I left about 1/16" of foam and all of the cork. So the hooks will just sit real tightly down in that crack.

The foam fits pretty tightly in the box but I used some spray adhesive to make sure it stayed snug. The flies fit pretty nicely.

Before too long...fall will be here in the Rockies. The Browns will be getting aggressive and it's gonna be gam on. I sent my 8 weight back to Temple Fork today so they could repair it. This year may be the year that I land that truly massive brown on a streamer. I know the one that broke off last year was it. It'll be there still.