Gift Ideas for Fishermen

Trying to find the perfect gift for that fishermen on your Christmas list? No idea what the ideal present for them would be? Let me make few suggestions, ranging in price from stocking stuffers to major gifts. Most of them are things I use and like and think others would find useful. I offered many of these same suggestions in my outdoor column in the Griffin Daily News.

A top end gift would be a nice new LCD depthfinder - something on my wish list. On my boat is a Lowrance X-16 paper graph depthfinder, but paper is getting more expensive and harder to find. LCD's are improving but have not quite reached the level of the paper graph. The better ones like the Eagle Optima cost a little over $300 and you can add water temperature and speed probes. The most inexpensive LCD's cost less than $100.

One of the first LCD's to come out is on the front of my boat, and it works OK but not nearly a good as the newer models. I have a flasher mounted beside it and use the flasher most of the time. I like a flasher on the front of my bass boat. They are getting harder to find too, but Hummingbird still offers one for less than $100. I may have been one of the first people in mid-Georgia to have a snowmobile suit. Conditions even this far south during the winter make a snowmobile suit the most important thing a fisherman can have. I am still wearing the one I got 23 years ago. They are fairly expensive but last a long time! Spend the money to get a good one.

A good stocking cap and warm, insulated boots complete the outside outfit. Snowmobile boots with felt liners are fairly cheap, waterproof and warm. Don't fall out of the boat wearing them, though! Insulated boots with a breathable liner would be better on those days starting out frigid but warming up rapidly.

Insulated underwear and wool socks will also help keep you warm. Buy the underwear big enough that it does not cut off circulation. If wool sox make you itch like they do me, get a thin pair of sox to wear under them. All these gifts are fairly cheap and no fisherman would want to be without them.

Fishing gloves might be a nice gift and work for some, but I have never been able to find any I could wear and fish. Even the ones with finger openings keep me from feeling the rod and being comfortable holding it. And I always have to take them off to tie a knot, so my hands get cold and never warm back up anyway.

For the bass boat owner, a motorcycle helmet with a face shield is a great gift. Riding down the lake at 60 miles per hour with the 20 degree breeze blowing in your face will make you appreciate the helmet! Several handwarmers, either the chemical kind good for one trip or the kind you light a charcoal stick inside, are great to warm you even more while you fish, and cost only a few dollars.

Rods and reels are tough to buy as a gift unless you really know the person's preferences. A gift certificate or an assurance that the rod and reel is exchangeable might be the way to go. Or your fisherman may be like me and mark the exact rod and reel they want in a catalog or tell the local sporting goods store owner. That way there is no doubt.

No fishermen ever has enough tackle and all would appreciate a selection of lures - several Shadraps in different sizes and colors, a variety of worms in favorite colors, a couple of spinnerbaits - all are good stocking stuffers at a few dollars each. If they have a favorite crankbait, get them several in the color they like best. See what kind of worm or spinnerbait they use and get them more.

I never go fishing without my hand held digital scales. I can know exactly how much a bass weighs before I release it. Cuts down on the bragging, but I like to know. A box of worm hooks or worm leads, spools of line or a filet knife, all are useful and needed - and fairly inexpensive. A good thermos is another nice gift, especially if your fisherman likes lots of coffee.

A GPS is a fun toy for a fisherman. They have really dropped in price with handheld units well under $200. You can find your favorite fishing hole with one, tell the exact speed of your boat and the direction you are traveling. Lots of outdoor books are available specific to anyone's individual preferences. A magazine subscription will be like a gift every month. Visit local sporting goods stores for more suggestions and ideas or browse catalogs from the big distributors. There are always lots of things needed and wanted by fishermen.