The Umpqua Bug Locker comes in ten different configurations, to accommodate everything from midges to articulated streamers.
By Kubie Brown
Fly boxes come in hundreds of sizes, shapes, and colors—some fancy and complicated, some plain and simple. There are small metal fly boxes with flip-open doors; large, flat boxes lined with delicate foam and natural moss; and even leather-covered vintage boxes that feel like you’re fishing in the last century. You can find tiny midge boxes that fit in a shirt pocket and giant streamer cases that have to be stacked in the bed of a truck. It just seems like there’s a fly box for everything—yet there are very few fly boxes for anything.
I’ve always wanted a fly box that you can use for a specific type of fly style, as well for a mishmash of streamers, nymphs, and dry flies for a day of fishing. I looked at a lot of different fly box brands and types, but it wasn’t until I found the Umpqua Bug Locker that I got exactly what I needed.
Lightweight and Simple
Made of light, clear or colored plastic, the Umpqua Bug Locker is a no-frills fly box that is lightweight and extremely easy to carry in a jacket pocket or pack, or to fill up with flies you need to store for the winter. With deep dividers, you don’t have to worry about flies getting squashed or hackles being flattened, and the clear plastic lid makes picking out the pattern you want as easy as can be.
I first bought the Umpqua Bug Locker to store my massive collection of steelhead flies. However, once I learned how easy the boxes were to carry and use, Bug Lockers became my go-to fly boxes for almost everything I did. With a multitude of colors and sizes, from small 236 to the giant 4624, I use Umpqua Bug Lockers to carry and store everything from tiny dries to giant streamers and everything in between.
The author customizes each box to fit the kids of flies he puts in it. Photo: Kubie Brown
Completely Customizable
The biggest thing that sets Umpqua Bug Lockers apart from other fly box brands and styles is that they’re completely customizable. With long open slots and insert dividers, you can set up a Bug Locker however you want it. I use the dividers in smaller Bug Lockers when I’m guiding, so I can organize my nymphs and dries by pattern and size and find exactly what I need quickly and easily. Yet, with my larger streamer boxes, I completely throw the dividers away to give my big bugs all the room they need without having to cram them together.
The customizable aspect of the Umpqua Bug Locker also makes them ideal for storage. With each box being roughly the same flat square shape and size, you can put in your dividers and then fill them to the brim with every fly you own. Then you can stack the boxes up and put them in your closet and garage so they’re ready for your next upcoming angling adventure without worrying about them getting disorganized or damaged.
Boxed Up
Perhaps the best thing about Umpqua Bug Lockers is that they’re cheap. Depending on the make and model, the boxes will run between $4.99 and $14.99 meaning that you can get a Bug Locker for every fly pattern and type for $100. This truly makes the Umpqua Bug Locker the perfect fly box.
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