CJ's Fly Box

CJ's Fly Box offers hand-tied fishing flies for sale. We tie flies for trout, panfish, and bass fishing. Find us at http://cjsflybox.com.

My name is CJ Klenske, and I have been fly fishing and fly tying since about 2000. Although most of my fishing is done on the trout streams of the Driftless Area of Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, I also spend a lot of time chasing smallmouth bass and panfish. When my wife and I travel, I always try to find a little time to spend on the water in that area. So far I have been lucky enough to land f

ish on a fly rod in Colorado, Montana, North Carolina, Michigan, New York, and Maine. That still leaves a lot of places to try in the coming years. When I was still teaching, fly tying was my therapy. The more I did it, the more I enjoyed it. Now that I am retired, I have decided to expand my tying beyond just being a hobby. The flies that I tie are dependable patterns that can be successfully fished just about anywhere. If you don't see the pattern(s) that you are looking for on my website, just ask. I’m always willing to tie something new or different. In fact, one of my passions it to learn to tie patterns that are specific to an area I am traveling to.

11/10/2024

Graduation Day!! Scarlett has completed Puppy Class!

10/04/2024

Welcome to your new forever home, Scarlett! Adopted from the Dubuque Humane Society on 10/4/24.

09/29/2024

Went to Bankston this morning, and came home with a great story. Didn't get any action until the fifth hole of the day. Second cast there was hit by what felt like a great fish. After a short fight, it made a big thrash and snapped off, taking both flies, the tippet and the indicator. While I was re-rigging my rod, I could see the indicator swimming up and down through the pool, and could imagine the fish laughing at me. Finished rigging and cast to the top of the pool. After a short drift, something hit the fly and the new indicator went under - something big again! When I set the hook, TWO indicators came up out of the water. The same fish hit my line again! This time I managed to get him to the net, along with the original flies and indicator. It was a 16 inch hog of a brown trout! I still don't believe that it happened.

09/08/2024

Members of the Dubuque Fly Fishers volunteered at the Heritage Classic youth event on Saturday. The kids were introduced to fly fishing and fly tying, and all of them walked away with 2 flies of their own to try out.

09/06/2024

Spent a couple of hours at Bankston this morning, getting in a last chance before we head off on vacation. Landed 5 of them on the Blowtorch 2. Nice, quiet morning outdoors.

08/20/2024

Spent a few hours on the water Sunday morning testing out some of my newer flies. The Sweet Meat Caddis, the Boo Boo Baetis and a new unnamed crayfish pattern all did well.

08/13/2024

Two of my flies earned red ribbons at this year's state fair fly tying competition: The Kamikaze Sculpin in the open class and the Red Neck Pheasant Tail in the nymph class. The Red Neck is a regular on my Etsy site, and the Kamikaze will probably be added soon.

08/10/2024

Spent the morning fishing at Bankston Park with Doug. It was a successful outing for both of us, landing some nice fish and missing almost as many. Finished the day with lunch at Breitbach's in Balltown. Couldn't ask for a better day.

05/17/2024

Got to spend a couple of hours at Bankston Park this morning. Things started out slow, but finally picked up on the last two holes I fished. Landed a baker's dozen nice trout, Rainbows and a couple of Browns. Unfortunately, #13 turned out to be a jinx. He left me with my flies badly tangled, which took almost 10 minutes to undo. Then first cast after that got caught in the brush on the other side of the creek. Ended up breaking off the whole rig. Rather than taking another 20 minutes to re-rig everything, decided to call it a day. Hot fly today was the Red Neck Pheasant Tail.

05/01/2024

Spent some time at Swiss Valley on Tuesday, trying out a couple of new flies. The Boo Boo Baetis turned out to be a hot little fly again. Landed 6 trout for me.

04/27/2024

Took the float tube out to Heritage Pond for a couple of hours on Wednesday. The guys that were fishing as I put it on the water were really interested in it, and had a lot of questions about it. (They weren't too excited about fishing because nothing had been biting.) Paddled all around the pond, but didn't find anything until I reached the far side. Cast a popper to some rising fish in the shade, and landed a couple of nice little fish. Nothing else besided them, though.

04/22/2024

Got caught up on tying orders, the sun was shining, and the wind wasn't too bad this morning. What's a guy to do? Go fishing, what else. Spent a few hours at Bankston. Started slow, but picked up as the morning went on. Found some nice fish that were willing to take my flies. The Blowtorch was hot on one hole, and a new prototype fly I call the Boo Boo Baetis picked up a few as well. Don't have pictures of the Boo Boo yet, but will take some soon. Only saw one other fisherman on the water while I was there. Got a nice photo of him too.

03/29/2024

Four new additions to CJ's Fly Box today. Just put up the Grave Digger Kebari, the Micro Bu**er Jig, a boxed set of Kebari flies, and a boxed set of Slumpbusters. Check them out when you get the chance.

03/18/2024

In my "spare time", I've been playing with some more new fly patterns. Now I have to find enough time to try them out on the fish. Hopefully the weather will cooperate on the days I have time to get on the water. One is more for bass fishing, one for panfish, and one mostly for trout.

02/23/2024

Another new fly pattern in the shop - the Rubber Leg Stimulator. I've been playing with this one for a while, and decided to finally offer it. Available in sizes 10, 12 and 14 and in Yellow, Orange and Black versions.

02/14/2024

Finally had a day when the weather was good and I had enough time to get out on the water. Spent a couple of hours at Bankston trying out some of the new flies I have been working on. Managed to hook two small but fiesty Rainbows on the same new fly. Will have to polish it up a little before I put it in the shop.

02/07/2024

First new fly for 2024 is now in the shop. The Puff Puff Midge is available in tan, gray or black in sizes 16, 18 and 20. Check it out at https://www.etsy.com/shop/CJsFlyBox.

01/31/2024

Since the end of the year, I've been going through the shop offering, dropping some low performing patterns and some patterns that are just old and tired. I'll probably w**d out a few more before I'm done.
That way I'll have room for some new patterns this year. Here are a few of them that I have been playing with. See what you think of them, and give me some feedback. Thanks. CJ

Address

Dubuque, IA
52001

Website

http://cjsflybox.com/

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