Friday, December 28, 2007

Make Your Own Fishing Decor from Fishing Gear

Decorating with old, used fishing gear is fun, creative and inexpensive. It's pretty easy to find unique fishing gear to use as decorating items for your log cabin or home. Here are a few fun ideas for your fishing decor projects.
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First you will need fishing gear. My husband is not the fisherman in our family, I am. So it's easy for me to save old fishing lures that the hooks have dulled and gives me a great excuse to buy more too! Bobbers have a tendency to stop floating after a few whacks on the rocks along the shoreline, rendering them useless to the fisherman but a great find for the decorator. If you confiscate gear from hubby's tackle box remember you now know what to get him for the next holiday or special occasion!
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Yard sales and estate sales are great for purchasing inexpensive, used fishing equipment for your decorating projects. Yard sales are less risky than hubby's tackle box too. Keep an eye out for used fishing nets, poles, lures, bobbers, metal stringers and other gear.

The last thing you want is your fishing decor to smell fishy. Be sure to clean everything very carefully and thoroughly. I use alcohol for lures, bobbers and such. Good detergent and bleach for nets. Vinegar and lemon juice work well too.
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What type of decorating can you do with your accumulated treasures? This is where the fun really begins, let your imagination shine. Here are just a few ideas to get you started. Minnow buckets make good catch all containers for bedrooms, kid's rooms and bathrooms for items like crayons, hair do-dads, brushes and combs etc. If you are really crafty they can be turned into lamps. Buy lamp fixtures at the hardware store or inexpensive narrow based lamps that fit into the top opening of the minnow bucket.
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Make your own fishing swag from long pliable twigs, boat line or saining nets. Make sure you either remove the hooks from lures and replace with twisted wire shaped like hooks or snip the points off with heavy wire cutters. I have put chunks of cork on the ends of each point, these look like baited hooks! From the twigs I randomly tie bobbers and lures with mono filament (fishing line). I like to use cafe curtains with curtain clips on these swags because they hang below the bobbers and lures. Curtains with the long tabs work great as well.
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Old fishing poles from yard sales are very cheap and make great curtain rods. I especially like the cane poles because they are easy to cut to size.

Another idea is to hot glue bobbers and lures all over an old lamp base. I think the more the better on this project, totally covering the base. Of course the lamp size and your taste make a difference. If it's a very large lamp or you just don't have enough lures and bobbers you can hot glue solid bands, about 2 inches wide, of hemp rope or twine to fill in larger areas.

A mobile like you see in babies rooms are fun and add an interesting art form to your fishing decor. I prefer to hang the fishing gear at different levels instead of all one length. Again I use twigs or sticks for this project's "cross" to hang the lures, bobbers etc. from and fishing line to tie it all together.

Old wooden picture frames with the glass removed make inexpensive picture boxes. Line a piece of thin cardboard with brown, tan or dark green felt. You can also use fishing print fabric. Put this covered cardboard in the frame like you would a picture and hot glue your treasures on the felt. A good trick is to use sets of three. Three lures, one under the other in a corner, three bobbers side by side for a top row, three hand reels in a row at the bottom for weight and one old metal stringer above the reels.

Things I haven't tried yet but are on my list to create include fishing lures with the hooks removed as cabinet handles, bobbers or lures for light pulls, fishing net swag around the bathroom mirror and drift wood with fishing gear as a conversation piece.

Creating your own fishing decor is fun, inexpensive and most of all you have unique decorating items for your home or cabin. Start collecting old fishing gear and let your imagination go.

The author writes for http://www.cabinfevergifts.com. We have more Cabin Decorating and Gift articles and products. Shop for unique fishing gifts at Log Cabin Fever Gifts & Decor.

Fly Fishing Gifts for Christmas

Christmas is a wonderful time of the year unless you're having problems coming up with gift ideas. Here are a few fly fishing gift ideas.

Okay, I'll be the first one to admit publicly that buying gifts for the holidays can be a pain in derriere. When it comes right down to it, how well do you know someone and how do you know what he or she likes? Buying for kids is great because you can always peak at the letter to Santa. Unfortunately, most adults have given up writing to Santa and you really don't want to read through there other letters. Fortunately, this isn't a problem if you are buying for a fly fishing enthusiast.
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Fly Fishing Gifts

Fly fishing is an extremely popular sport and a good way to become one with nature. Of course, you probably don't care about any of that. Instead, you want to know what you should buy for guy or gal in your life that loves to go fly fishing. Well, here are a few ideas.
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1. Flies - You lucky dog, the top gift you can give a fly fisherman is a fly. Flies are the "bait" that go on the end of the line and are used to attract fish. Flies come in a variety of types and forms. The most basic are Nymphs and Mayflies, which mimic a type of bug that lives in rivers and is considered fine dining by bass and other fish. You can expect to pay a couple of bucks per fly, so feel free to buy more than one.
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2. Local Specialty Fly - Okay, this will take a bit of effort on your part. Every fishing area has a specialty fly that is known to have fish leaping out of the water before casting even begins. Since the exact fly varies from location to location, you need to stop by a local fishing store and ask for advice. Try to pick a beat up looking shop with gentlemen of an older persuasion. They'll talk your ear off, but you'll get something unique.
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3. Fly Station - Okay, this is going to be a more costly item. A fly station looks like a small desk and for a good reason. The fly station is where your beloved angler will sit and create his or her own flies. Part of the allure of fly fishing is tying your own flies and fly stations are built for this purpose. You can expect to pay as low as $75 and as high as anyone has the never to charge.
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4. Nomad Fly Fishing Journals - A little self-promotion here. Nomad Fly Fishing Journals are compact writing journals that let anglers keep notes on their efforts. They can note the fishing conditions, which flies worked the best, who the fished with and notes on what they should do differently next time. You can click the link at the bottom of this article to see the journals and expect to pay $25 for the journal and waterproof case.

If you're looking for fly fishing gifts, consider yourself lucky. The equipment tends to be inexpensive and last a very long time.

Rick Chapo is with http://www.nomadjournals.com - makers of writing journals. Fly fishing journals are great fly fishing gifts for anglers and fly fishing trips and vacations. Visit http://www.nomadjournaltrips.com for more fly fishing articles and stories.