Have you looked at a calendar lately? There is just over a month of shopping days left before Christmas, so I am putting the steelhead flies on hold for awhile, while I render some gift suggestions.
Let’s begin with hand-crafted ideas:
A wooden fly box is a welcome gift and not hard to assemble. To make one compile two, 2.5 cm by 20 cm strips of three mm thick strips of balsa wood; two, 2.5 cm by 10 cm strips of three mm thick strips of balsa wood; two, 10.6 cm by 20 cm pieces of two mm thick balsa wood; one, 2 cm by 9 cm section of piano hinge, and wood glue.
Glue the balsa strips together to form a 10 by 20 cm rectangle. Then glue the 10.6 by 20 cm pieces to the rectangle, one on each side, to form a top and bottom. This should give you one solid box.
Cut the box in half, down the center of the balsa wood sides. Join the two halves with the piano hinge. Line the inside of the box with closed cell foam. Decorate the outside of the box with folk art and a coat of lacquer. Finish it off with a selection of your favourite flies and you are sure to please.
A high-volume fly case can be made with an old brief case and some sheets of closed cell foam. Remove the lining and inner compartments, and replace them with a layer of closed cell foam. Decorate the outside of the case with fishing decals and load the inside with productive flies.
– Submitted by Jeff Weltz
