Holiday Gifts for the Flyfisher with Everything

by and

December 2004

One part of fly fishing that most of us enjoy is the cool fishing equipment and gear. For those of us who use it, we know what works and what doesn't. On the other hand, for the non-fisher, locating a suitable fly-fishing gift can be quite daunting. If you haven't tried it, how can you know what's good and what's expensive junk? The following items are our picks for the holidays. You won't go wrong giving any of these items to your favorite fly angler. Unless indicated, all these goodies are available at the Great River Company in San Mateo where PFF members get a 10% discount! [By the way, our web editor would not mind receiving any of these in his stocking (wink, wink). – ed.]

An Extraordinary Fly Box

The C&F micro-slit fly boxes from Scientific Angler are an amazing improvement in fly box design. The patented micro-slit foam is simply the best way to store flies. It easily and securely holds both barbed and barbless hooks by simply sliding the hook bend into the slot and keeps your flies orderly and unmatted. The twelve row fly box with a center flip page shown here has slots for a total of 564 individual flies. Now when you are falling over in the river, you have to decide whether to throw your fly rod or your box of flies. Which one is worth more? There are a number of configurations of the C&F fly box to meet any requirements. [Retail price: $34.95]

An Honest Net by JTA

This is one of those "Why didn't I think of that?" ideas when you see it. The "Measure Net" was designed and created by Jeff Abel, son of Steve Abel of Abel reels. This is an inexpensive, yet highly durable and useful item. The landing net is constructed of an aluminum frame, so it will not corrode or easily break. The foam handle enables it to float and the net bag is a soft and protective catch-and-release material that minimize injury to your fish. The real cool thing about this net is that on the inside of the bag there is a ruler printed on the fabric that starts at zero on the very bottom and increases in inch increments up the ends of the bag. When your fish is in the net, no matter where in the bag it lays, you add the number shown at the tail to the number shown at the nose and instantly know the overall length of the fish! There are pluses and minuses to this system. The plus is that you accurately know the length of your fish without having to handle it at all, the minus is that this takes a lot of the exaggeration out of fish stories. The measure net comes in four sizes from small to a long handled telescopic Boat net. [Retails price from $17.75 to $28.00.]

A New Type of Indicator

Leave to those creative folks at Gamma Technologies to come up with the better mousetrap again. I get offers for the new "latest and greatest" strike indicator practically every week and most of them don't particularly excite me. Just variations on a theme usually. But what's important in an indicator? Easy to cast, easy to see, floats the right amount of weight, easy to reposition on your leader? Most of the time I either use plain old polypropylene yarn or those ball shaped foam indicators that you secure with a toothpick or rubber band. The Ultimate indicator from Frog Hair uses the foam ball as its basis but adds a unique twist. The indicators come pre-threaded on a thin loop of wire with a tiny rubber retainer on either side of the ball. To install you take the tip of your leader through the loop of the threader and pull off first one of the retainers, the ball and then the second of the retainers. Once on your leader, you can slide the indicator up and down to anywhere and it stays there it is a foolproof system that really works. I just tried them for the first time a week or so ago on a steelhead trip. I spent two days fishing on the same leader and indicator and moved the ball up and down hundreds of times. It never wore out or stopped working. The indicators come in small medium and large sizes with three balls in a package and extra retainers to make them re-usable for $6.95 per package. You can also purchase additional packages of pre-threaded retainers for $4.95 each. Just a simple little stocking stuffer idea of something that is new and different.

A "7-Piece" Flyrod

Fly rods have become ever more sophisticated (often with price tags to match). However, it is nice to know that tackle manufacturers are still creating innovations that do not require a second mortgage to finance. For those of you who have ever combined backpacking and fly fishing know the agony of "lining-up" four or five sections of a graphite rod, attaching a reel, stringing up line, tying on a fly, before finally casting to that gorgeous pool dimpled by rising trout. In fact, this process of setting-up and taking-down one's rod is so time consuming that many of us reluctantly skip beautiful, trouty water because of the hassle and the need to make trail mileage. Well, here's the solution: a serious, collapsible, bona fide fly rod. The telefly rod is made by a German company (D.A.M.) and distributed only by CompactFishingGear.com through its online catalog. It is available in a 5-6 weight or a 7-8 weight. On my last hiking trip (Fish Creek), I kept the rod in its cloth bag – collapsed but fully rigged – with the fly tucked in the hook-keeper. I wrapped a neoprene reel case around the reel and strapped everything to the outside of my backpack. Whenever we went past a nice pool, I would drop my pack, remove the bag/case, and telescope the rod from its 16 inch compact form out to its fully extended length of 8' 4". In a twinkle, I was casting to rising trout. (Three casts, two trout.) There are only two small drawbacks that I noticed. Although this is a legitimate fly rod – and not a spinning/casting blank masquerading as a fly rod – the extra hardware required to make it all work results in a total rod weight of 8 oz, about twice that of a modern graphite rod. Second, while this medium-action rod can easily cast 50 to 60 feet, don't expect to be booming out monster casts. By far the most surprising part is that it only costs $86. It's the perfect hiking and travel rod! Available online at: CompactFishingGear.com (click on the Telefly link on their home page.)

A Book on Salmonidae

This wonderful book is a compilation between Robert Behnke Ph.D., the world's leading authority on Salmonid species, and Joseph R. Tomelleri, often referred to as the Charles Audubon of fish illustrators. Not only is this title a great resource for the natural history of all trout and Salmon found in North America, it is a beautiful work of art. If you want to know the natural history of any native species of trout from Lahontan Cutthroats to the McCloud River Rainbow this is the definitive work. There is a lifetime of fishing trips described in this book to pursue native species throughout the West. I enjoyed reading this book so much that I only read a chapter at a time in order to make it last longer. Not only that, I took copious notes and created a "hit list" to check off as I go explore these places. Highly recommended! [Retail price: $40.00.]

A Trouty Calendar

All right, this goes along with Trout and Salmon of North America as a piece of great art in a similar vein. This Calendar is 12 months of Joseph Tomelleri's best trout illustrations. Each month you get a new illustration of a Native Trout or Salmon species, information of their natural history and distribution, a map of their native range and a hatch chart for that month. Keep those fishing trip dreams coming! This calendar comes nicely boxed in a trout cutout package that is easily wrapped for under the tree. [Retail Price: $11.95]

A "Must-Read" for the Beginner

Well this book is not new by any means. Originally published in 1978 by Sheridan Anderson, the "Wild Man of the River" self described as "angler, artist, wanderer, eternal foe of the work ethic." This how-to book published in cartoon form is still one of the very best beginners books out there. Used by many fly fishing shops as a text for their beginning classes, if you have a friend or relative that you want to share the basics of our sport with, you can't go wrong putting the Curtis Creek Manifesto in their stocking. They will get a few chuckles out of reading it while they learn the fundamentals of fly fishing that will last a lifetime. [Retail price: $7.95]

A Waterproof Digital Camera

I roll the dice every time I step in a river. No, I'm not referring to my wading and fishing style, but rather to the fact that I'm usually carrying a small digital camera in my vest. The danger, of course, is that one mis-step and the camera (and my pride) are as wet as the trout. After a bit of searching, I came across the solution: the Pentax Optio 43WR. This 4 megapixel camera is the perfect device for recording that huge fish you just ennumerated with your measure-net. It is water resistant and can be immersed (but not operated) in 3 ft of water for up to 30 minutes – more than enough protection against an unlucky dunk. I don't know how Pentax did it, but the camera even includes a 2.8X optical zoom in its tiny housing which easily slips into your pocket. It is available at better area photo shops (like Keeble and Shuchat in Palo Alto where I played with one of these recently). Online sources include the usual retailers like Amazon.com or Buy.com where it sells for around $350.

Happy Holidays To All, and To All, Tight Lines in 2005!

– Kelly and Rodney

Shop information:

The Great River Company
255 East Third Avenue,
San Mateo, CA 94401

Store hours: Sunday 12 – 5 pm; Mon, Tues, Wed 10 – 6 pm; Thurs, Fri, Sat 10 – 8 pm

phone: 650-342-3474
web: The Great River Company