This Christmas, support the little guy!

I have a soft spot for handcrafted, unique items. Maybe the flyfisher in your life does too, or maybe they'd rather buy a handmade lanyard from a mother of two in Arkansas than from a global corporation.

I browsed through Etsy for some handmade, fly fishing related items that are sure to please any flyfisher this holiday season, and here are my favorites:

Mike Worthen Fine Art

Gorgeous, black and white sketch prints of flyfishing scenes. For me, these prints evoke the past, these could be my grandfather's hands, as seen by a five year old me.

Laurel Mountain Lanyards

I'm still warming up to the idea of a lanyard, but they certainly have their place, and Laurel Mountain Lanyards offers large variety of reasonably priced and very fetching lanyards.

Wired and Strung Out

 Equally fetching lanyards, but differently so.

Andrea Larko

I absolutely love her whimsical and intricate take on fishing artwork. One of these will land on the wall above my bench before 2014 is out.

BadAxeDesign

I ordered a few hats from block print artist Jonathan Marquardt a few months back, one for myself, and one for each of my little kids. Despite having a ton of hats, the trucker hat from BadAxe is my favorite. I'm particularly short on hair, so for me to brave the Swiss winter in a mesh cap says quite a bit.

Fishing for Gyotaku

Traditiononal Japanese fish printing. Extremely cool looking, and would likely make an excellent gift for a Tenkara fan in particular.

SBIXELArt

Shawn Bichsel is another artist, providing his designs as prints, cards, and wooden business card holders. His take on a mayfly:

TafSchaefer Designs

Handmade brass belt buckles with a Royal Wulff. Awesome.

If you can, think of the little guy while shopping this year and consider buying a gift or two made one at a time, by hand, and by an individual. You'll be helping them have a nice Christmas too!