Nick Thomas tells us about some of the items he has used this year items that you might want to add to your Christmas list this year.
My wife fishes occasionally. On holiday, in the summer, if it's dry, if it's warm, if it's not too windy, if I act as ghillie and then only for a short time. Suffice to say she is not a dedicated enthusiast and doesn't show an extensive interest in the finer details of fishing paraphernalia. So when Christmas approaches we have a well established tradition of her asking what 'surprise fishing present' I would like. The expected response is for me to provide a short list of items from which she may select something to order online, or if I provide detailed written instructions, to go to the local tackle shop. This by the way, should you think this is a one way process, is reciprocated by me asking what she would like for wool spinning, knitting, sewing or quilt making, and then being viewed as a harmless simpleton when I venture into an emporium of said crafts in pursuit of some obscure item.
So here are some of these 'something small but useful' things that have actually proved to be useful and are still on or in my fly vest and get used every trip. If you are lucky and your spouse, partner or other significant non-fishing gift giver asks what you might like for Christmas and you don't have the necessary three page cost-benefit report and detailed spreadsheet to justify the purchase of the latest must-have length of cane or nano-fabricated carbon, then one of these small items may be acceptable. They may even save you from having to test your acting skills in showing appreciation for the lovely socks/aftershave/car-wash kit.
C&F Fly Protector
A simple functional mini fly box that clips on to your fly vest, doesn't drop barbless flies like conventional fly patches and has a flip down cover that stops you sweeping all the flies out with a vigorous double-haul. It keeps a selection of regularly used flies handy and dries them out nicely before they go back in the box. About £12 from Glasgow Angling Centre and other stockists.
Monomaster Waste Line Store
This gets used every trip to store my discarded tippet material (and stuff I pick up on the bank from careless other anglers). Waste mono or fluorocarbon is extremely dangerous to wildlife and stuffing hanks of it in your pockets is not a safe way to store it. The Monomaster looks like a bit like a hair curler enclosed in a slotted plastic cylinder; you feed a loop of waste tippet in through the slot and turn the handle to catch the the loop and wind away the waste material. When you've filled it up simply open up the casing, hold it over the bin at home and run the point of a pair of scissors down a groove in the hair curler bit to cut the tippet into short safe lengths. Around £13 from Orvis and other outlets.
Smith Creek Rod Holder
A very simple but very useful gadget which allows me to secure my rod while changing flies, unhooking fish or taking photographs. The holder is pinned to the shoulder of your vest and the rod is simply pushed into the neoprene gripper to hang from a short retractor cord. Saves putting down the rod and removes the risk of standing on it or getting mud and grit into my precious reels. Will cost your designated gift giver around £20 from Sportfish or other suppliers.
Fulling Mill Slimline Fly Boxes
Cheap but effective and a good way to organise your flies and enforce some discipline over the number of flies you take on a session. I used to use much larger and heavier boxes but really that just means carrying round far more flies than I'm ever going to use. Now I just take a tried and tested set of flies that I can fish with confidence so I spend less time changing flies and more time fishing. The boxes are available in a number of sizes, but I favour the large tactical size, not to carry more flies, but to give me space to arrange the contents by pattern and size. A bargain at around £6 from Sportfish and other Fulling Mill stockists, so you could push your luck and ask for two or three.
Ketchum Catch & Release Tool
Does what it says. I have one of these permanently stuck to my vest with velcro so it's immediately to hand to slide down the tippet and nudge out a barbless hook without touching the fish. Quicker and less fiddly than using forceps. Around £13 from Orvis, Sportfish and other stockists.
Abel Nippers
Now If you're ever asked "how about a nice piece of jewellery for Christmas ?", then here's your chance. All right, at £45 I admit I did buy these as a present to myself, but they are the best line clippers on the planet and give me pleasure every time I cut with them. If I ever lose them I might just be tempted to replace them with one of the hand painted versions with the same beautiful fish graphics that Abel put on their reels, but at £90, maybe not. So if you've been very very good this year then maybe the domestic expenditure supervisor will allow it, but you'll have to promise to never lose them, and not to even think about the pimped up versions. Abel nippers are available from Sportfish and other establishments and if you have to resort to buying them yourself then at least they will recognise you as a person of taste and distinction as you hand over the cash.... probably.
Nick Thomas lives in South Wales. He started fly fishing on Scottish hill lochs many years ago and continues to design, tie and fish flies for trout, carp, bass and anything else that’s going.