By days end or the completion a trip fly my boxes are mixed up, out of order and in need of a major reorganization.  Many patterns are tied both weighted and un-weighted and amidst fly box confusion how can anglers tell the difference?  The first argument might be a focus upon organization by placing weighted flies in their own fly box but this has been a personal demon for years.  Other fly tiers utilize different colored tying threads.  For example black designates weighted olive designates un-weighted.  But with some of the dubbing and materials available today thread color determines the final hue of the design and can work against the desired result.

When I tied weighted patterns like most I tend to tie in batches.  Once the patterns are completed I dab the eye of the hook with red nail polish identifying the pattern as weighted.  Now despite the confusion and chaos that occurs on the water determining a weighted pattern is just a matter of a quick glance for the red spot at the hook eye, simple and sweet.