Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Cliff Outdoors “Justin Case”
Cliff Outdoors bomb proof streamer box.
For a few seasons now I have been in search of a streamer box that would hold a lot of flies, be waterproof, air tight, and keep the bugs in place as it gets transferred from the boat to the pickup and back again. There isn’t anything more frustrating than opening a box you painstakingly organized by size, species, color, etc, only to find them in a jumbled heap in the center of the box in mass chaos. Many boxes claim to have all or some of the before mentioned attributes, but no box that I have ever tried has come close to matching The Justin Case by Cliff Outdoors.
I received this box in the mail about two weeks ago, and upon opening the package I was immediately struck by the visual durability of the box. My “cover check” quality analysis was affirmed when I opened the beefy hatches that keep the waterproof seal locked tightly in place, and took my first look at the durable foam that is the resting place for those costly and effective streamers.
Cliff included an instruction sheet on how to properly place the shank of the fly into the foam to ensure proper hold and foam longevity. The box is about the size of a large notebook measuring 13″ X 10 1/2″ X 4 1/2″. After the first few flies were in place I was rolling - placing nice, tight, organized rows of fur that stayed in place after may attempts to shake and slap the sides of the box to see if I would again end up with a jumbled mess. Not this time. The streamers didn’t move an inch. After about a dozen days on the water I can say that this box will last me many seasons and keep those big valuable bugs in factory condition until they get inhaled by an aggressive trout.
With a price tag of $98.00, other boxes may cost less, but with the major investment anyone has in large flies, a quick rainstorm can ruin the cheaper box and its contents in seconds. The money saved on a less expensive box will be spent twice over replacing the flies lost or ruined.
Overall, I would say that this box is a must for any streamer or big bug enthusiast looking to provide their own “warranty” against mother nature and the wild cards we all get while trout fishing.
Justin
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Bumped The Justin Case out of the boat the other day. Had it all closed up and that baby floated like a cork down the river about 40 yards before we caught up with it. Not a drop of water inside!