I’m a fly-fishing guide here in Western North Carolina, and I spend a lot of my time on rivers and small mountain streams.

One thing that has always bothered me is how easy it is to lose tiny pieces of clipped tippet. Once they hit the ground or water, they are almost impossible to find. Tiny trash can turn into a big problem.

I’ve been working on an idea for a small tool that would cut tippet and catch those clipped pieces at the same time. I’ve spent a lot of time sketching it, changing things around, and trying to make it simple and practical.

I’ve taken the idea as far as I can on my own, and now I need help from someone who can turn it into proper Fusion 360 files so I can start making and testing real prototypes.

The money raised will go toward CAD work, 3D printing, materials, small parts, and the changes that will come with testing.

Not only every $50 dollars will help keep our planet clean but you will certainly get first dibs once the final clipper drops!

That is a pretty amazing deal for supporting a simple goal: keeping tiny pieces of plastic tippet out of our rivers and helping bring a useful conservation-minded fishing tool to life.

Fishing line is plastic and does not readily biodegrade. The National Park Service lists monofilament fishing line as taking an estimated 600 years to break down, while also noting that plastics can fragment into increasingly small microplastics rather than simply disappear.

Just 2 inches at a time can add up fast. If 100 anglers leave behind 10 small clippings on 30 fishing days, that is nearly one mile of plastic tippet in a single year. Tiny trash really can become a big problem.

Any donation or share would mean a lot and help me take this from an idea in my head to something real.

No raffles, sweepstakes, giveaways, or returns on investment are offered in exchange for any donations made to this GoFundMe.