My wife asked what I wanted for the holiday and was sure to follow up the question with a "... and don't say fly fishing stuff, 'cause I wouldn't know what to get you."
I rattled off a whole list of ideas that had nothing to do with fishing, but truth of the matter is, there's nothing I'd rather have than more fly fishing gear.
So for those who aren't exactly fly fishing aficionados, I offer a holiday gift buyer's guide for those who know very little about fly fishing.
1. Fishing License
They sell them at nearly every sporting goods store that has fishing gear, not to mention every fly shop in town. You also can pick up licenses online in some instances. Check our
State Fish and Game Agencies page for more license information for your particular state. Licenses typically go on sale in December. Some states even offer a lifelong fishing license, although it's going to cost you.
2. Annual Pass
If the fly fisher in your life already has a license for the following year, and most dedicated anglers do, you can always purchase a year pass (one for the vehicle and one for the boat) to their favorite pay-to-play fishery. Where I live, for example, there's an entrance fee to fish my favorite lake. Some agencies even offer yearly passes for multiple lakes in a region for an additional price. 3. GPS Unit
Many anglers have yet to pick up a handheld GPS unit, and if they haven't, now's the time to pick up something that could prevent them from getting lost on that next fishing expedition. Garmin is my personal favorite, in terms of price, quality and usefulness. My favorite is the Garmin
eTrex Legend, which allows you to mark all of your favorite fishing spots for later reference and plot future fishing trips at the same time.
4. Digital Camera
Help your favorite angler capture that trophy catch forever with a new digital camera. The key to purchasing a camera for a fly fisher is to get one that is tiny, easy to use, turns on quickly and takes good photos outdoors with the possibility of adding a mandatory flash to light up that smile underneath the lucky fishing camp. My recommendation is any of the Cannon PowerShots. I use a
SD 600 Digital Elph, which can fit in my wader pocket but takes high-resolution photos in a split second so that Mr. Rainbow can be released in a hurry.
5. Books
There are hundreds of quality fly-tying and fly fishing books on the market. Take your pick. You can never have enough books on tying or techniques. Regional fishing guides are always useful as well. No Nonsense Fly Fishing Guides is one of the top regional guide publishers out there (Editor's Note: Milne wrote the Fishing Central California guide for No Nonsense Fly Fishing Guides). If guidebooks and resource guides sound too academic, there are plenty of entertaining books out there on the favorite pastime. Try A River Runs through It and Other Stories by Norman Maclean or John Gierach's Death, Taxes and Leaky Waders.
