My recent letter to Trout Fisherman warned of the perils that you can face when victim to a burglary. Unless of sentimental value or vintage items, rods and reels can be fairly straight forward to replace but it is the flies that prove difficult. I started fly fishing at 13 thus accumulating 20 years of flies and as my fingers seem incapable of tying flies, they were all bought from various dealers over the years. Not only is this difficult to get across to a (non-fishing) loss adjuster, it is also difficult to prove. So please make sure that your insurance is adequate and, for the sake of a few digital photos stored on your computer, document your fly collections (and keep receipts!!), I know this sounds somewhat condescending to some, but having lost my job just before Christmas starting from scratch with flies is a daunting prospect!!!! My stolen tackle probably ended up being sold on for a very small fraction of the price and has probably been featuring on ebay in th past few weeks!!!!

Good point - same applies to whatever you collect that is vintage. Loss adjusters do not always understand collections of anything

I read your letter and fully agree with you, it would be very difficult to rebuild a lifetimes collection. Would photographic evidence (even with the EXIF attached) act as proof of ownership though?

I think it's an "anything's better than nothing" approach - I had bought a fair few flies from selectafly and they were able to send me copy invoices which was handy. It's all about providing evidence for the loss adjusters and then you are at their mercy as to what parts of the claim they will recommend to the insurers to accept.

Well here's hoping any potential burglar spots my 50" plasma before my fly boxes, I have a receipt for the telly