My good friend Rick over at Water Walker Lanyards and Lures sent me a set of the lanyards he makes. He sent me three of his Southwestern model, one of his Dry Fly model, and one of his Gulf Coast model lanyards. Two of the Southwestern lanyards are for my son and I and the rest are for donation to the local fly fishing club courtesy of Rick. In short, these are the nicest looking fly fishing lanyards I have come across!To begin with, I already had a lanyard made by Morning Star Lanyards. It has been a good lanyard that came with a retractor and fly patch but Rick's beats it in quality for a lower price! Same can be said for the similar fly fishing lanyards made by Orvis and MayFly™ which are more expensive.
What do I like about this new lanyard? Well, to begin with, I know that great care and skill went into it. I like the small touches such as the swivel in the shirt clip, the rubber shrink tubing that finishes off the cord ends, the beautiful beads, inline fly foam holders, and symmetrical location of the swivel connections. The inline fly foam holders are genius! I also like the light weight, that along with thick foam for the back of the neck, make for a very comfortable lanyard. The cord colors and patterns are pretty nice, too. Lastly, you have to love those beads!
I modded my lanyard as soon as I got it and added two retractors; one for my line clipper and one for my clamps. I also added a square foam fly patch for bigger flies that I would not want to stick in the built-in fly foam holders. I still have room for my tippet holder. Rick can add a fifth swivel connection in the center next to the shirt clip if you need one for a small fly box for example.
So, in closing, if you are looking for a quality made fly fishing lanyard for under $20 from a Texas craftsman, check out Rick's site. You'll be glad you did!
