If you spend any time at fly fishing shows then you are no doubt familiar with the glut of cheap fly boxes on the market.  Most of the cheap boxes are knockoffs of brand name boxes and have a similar look and feel to them.  The differences however become more noticeable when you take them fishing or put them through a few seasons of use.  The boxes most often copies are make by C & F Design.  C & F boxes are made in Japan under rigid tolerances and offer a number of advantages that the knockoffs do not.  Here are a few things I noticed when comparing a C & F box to a cheap imitation.



1. The material used in the C & F box are much more durable and the hinged section does not crack or stress the sides like other boxes.

2. On the C & F box the lid aligns with the base without a lot of play.  Cheap boxes have a tendency to close and not latch due to sloppy tolerances in the factory.

3. The foam inserts of C & F boxes can be replaced when they wear out or if you want to change up the configuration of the box.

4. The micro-slit foam of a C & F box is straight, which allows you to fill the box without flies crowding each other due to curved foam strips.


In Sum: In most cases when it comes to buying fly-fishing equipment you get what you pay for.  If you want to save some money on your fly boxes, then the quality of the box will reflect the price.  Regardless of whether you tie your own flies or purchase flies the purpose of a good fly box is to protect and organize your investment.  My personal take on fly boxes is this: Why spend countless hours selecting the right materials, researching patterns, and tying flies just to drop them into a box that doesn't latch well, has bent foam, and is made so fast and so cheaply that the hinged side could crack?  I have a about a dozen fly boxes that get rotated in my vest throughout the year and C & F Design boxes have held up and in many cases outperformed all of the boxes I have tried.


Disclosure- C & F Design provided the featured products free of charge for me to review. I was not compensated in any other way for this blog post.