As you'll appreciate, there's not too much going on with the river at the moment (I know, I tried yesterday, with predictable results). I thought you might want some last-minute suggestions for stocking fillers to give to your nearest and dearest in case they can't find any last-minute pressies for the angler who has everything.
This is my first suggestion - not the nippers (though a spare pair is always a good idea) but - a Safety Pin (or maybe a packet of them, large size). I find these invaluable for prodding the varnish or other gunge out of fly eyes, and much better than the spike on some nippers, but they're also really handy for undoing tangles in fine tippet. Just hang them on the nippers and they'll be very happy together.
Another slightly more expensive trinket to garnish your fly jacket is a small, light, cheap pair of secateurs. Certain well-known online retailers have them well under £10 if you look hard and wait for the boat from China. Every member benefits from those, as you snip away that bramble that just grabbed your net or snagged your rod halfway down the steps, and if we all do a quick snip on every trip, that'll be just a bit less work for Nigel and the work-parties.
As you may have gathered, I like gadgets, and even better if they're cheap (as they often get lost or broken), but recently I bought a new folding head for my landing net, mainly for the reservoir. It was very cheap, and had a rubberised mesh which sounded good, but wasn't, because it doesn't slip round the folding arms when you want to fold it, so it rather defeats the object. Even worse, it came with a "Universal Standard Fitting", which turned out to be an 8mm bolt, so it was a bit frustrating to find that it didn't fit any of my net handles. Further research reveals that a UK standard bolt should 3/8" BSF, which equates to about 9.5mm, with the correct thread of course. Luckily I managed to drill out the bolt and replace it with one from my old broken net-head, but I'll be a bit more careful getting another of these as a stocking-filler.
If you really want to splash out, you could do worse than get a cheap Tenkara rod, small enough to fit in a fishing bag or your pocket, so that when you're nymphing and see some rises, you can whip out your Tenkara (as they say) and within minutes you can be tempting the presumptuous Trout or Grayling. It's a great toy, and takes you right back to the basics of fly-fishing in the days of Izaak Walton (or his Japanese cousins anyway), and it need only cost a fraction of the price of that umpteenth conventional rod you've been considering adding to your collection. You can fritter away many hours studying Tenkara videos on YouTube as well, so it's a sound investment even when the river's like it is now.
I hope you get whatever you've asked Santa for, though he probably can't help much with the weather.
Merry Christmas
PeterB
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