Skip to main content

Abel Nippers

Quality-crafted, designed, and made-in-the-U.S. tool with hardened 440C steel blades.

Abel Nippers

Quality-crafted, designed, and made-in-the-U.S. tool with hardened 440C steel blades.

I can hear the moaning of keyboard warriors already . . . “$250 for a pair of nippers? I can get fingernail clippers from the drugstore for 99 cents.” Well, then maybe you should do that, because the waiting lists for these nippers at top fly shops will be long, and it’d be nice to let someone else get their hands on this hot commodity. I predict these new Abel Nippers ($250, abelreels.com) will be one of the best-selling retail items of 2022.

If you are the type of person who enjoys a quality-crafted, designed, and made-in-the-U.S. tool, you’ll pick up these nippers, feel their heft, run your thumb and forefinger over the smooth faceplate and grooved recesses, and you won’t want to put them down. When you pinch the jaws together, you’ll see the hardened 440C steel blades meet with exact precision. The blades are heat treated, and then precision ground. They are replaceable, and you can also sharpen them yourself. Just close the jaws and run them over fine-grit sandpaper. They melt through any monofilament or multifilament like a light saber, and then “spring” back open, without any springs at all. The jaws float open because of opposing nickel-plated neodymium magnets—two of them on each side of the nippers.

The magnets serve two purposes: They eliminate the need for springs, and they create the perfect fly keeper for almost any trout-sized fly patterns. I used a prototype on the Big Hole River for a week, and stored Beadhead Psycho Prince Nymphs, Copper Johns, and San Juan Worms and didn’t lose a fly. But when I lost a rig, my flies were right there ready to go—a big asset when the fishing is fast and furious, and also when you are fishing “minimalist style” without any fly boxes at all.

While you may choose to clip the nippers to your own lanyard or zinger, Abel Nippers come on their own adjustable cord coated with layers of thermoplastic polyurethane. It feels like a thick, smooth fly line around your neck. It will never collect dirt or sweat, or crack due to UV exposure.

And it won the 2022 IFTD Best of Show Accessories Over $50 award. 




GET THE NEWSLETTER Join the List and Never Miss a Thing.

Recommended Articles

Recent Videos

Creating blanks with dialed technique-specific actions that perform under extreme load without failure doesn't just “hap...
News

Lefty: The Greatest of All Time

Creating blanks with dialed technique-specific actions that perform under extreme load without failure doesn't just “hap...
Gear

DIY Airbrushing on Popper Heads

Creating blanks with dialed technique-specific actions that perform under extreme load without failure doesn't just “hap...
Gear

Trailer: The Kids Are Alright

Creating blanks with dialed technique-specific actions that perform under extreme load without failure doesn't just “hap...
Gear

Fly Tier's Bench: How to Tie Craven's Lil Bit Nymph

Creating blanks with dialed technique-specific actions that perform under extreme load without failure doesn't just “hap...
How-To/Techniques

Ed Jaworowski's Functional Fly Casting Part 1: Acceleration

Creating blanks with dialed technique-specific actions that perform under extreme load without failure doesn't just “hap...
News

Jimmy Carter Was One of Us

Creating blanks with dialed technique-specific actions that perform under extreme load without failure doesn't just “hap...
News

The Genesis of a Film: Legacy

Creating blanks with dialed technique-specific actions that perform under extreme load without failure doesn't just “hap...
News

Salmon Return to the Klamath River

Creating blanks with dialed technique-specific actions that perform under extreme load without failure doesn't just “hap...
Destinations/Species

Simms Presents - Destination: Skeena

Creating blanks with dialed technique-specific actions that perform under extreme load without failure doesn't just “hap...
News

Just Do It: Nike and Drake Plunge into Fly Fishing

Creating blanks with dialed technique-specific actions that perform under extreme load without failure doesn't just “hap...
News

Abel x Nocta Fly Reel

Creating blanks with dialed technique-specific actions that perform under extreme load without failure doesn't just “hap...
How-To/Techniques

G. Loomis's “Feel Connected” Episode 2: "Rolled Up"

Fly Fisherman Magazine Covers Print and Tablet Versions

GET THE MAGAZINE Subscribe & Save

Digital Now Included!

SUBSCRIBE NOW

Give a Gift   |   Subscriber Services

PREVIEW THIS MONTH'S ISSUE

Buy Digital Single Issues

Magazine App Logo

Don't miss an issue.
Buy single digital issue for your phone or tablet.

Get the Fly Fisherman App apple store google play store

Other Magazines

See All Other Magazines

Special Interest Magazines

See All Special Interest Magazines

GET THE NEWSLETTER Join the List and Never Miss a Thing.

Get the top Fly Fisherman stories delivered right to your inbox.

Phone Icon

Get Digital Access.

All Fly Fisherman subscribers now have digital access to their magazine content. This means you have the option to read your magazine on most popular phones and tablets.

To get started, click the link below to visit mymagnow.com and learn how to access your digital magazine.

Get Digital Access

Not a Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Enjoying What You're Reading?

Get a Full Year
of Guns & Ammo
& Digital Access.

Offer only for new subscribers.

Subscribe Now

Never Miss a Thing.

Get the Newsletter

Get the top Fly Fisherman stories delivered right to your inbox.

By signing up, I acknowledge that my email address is valid, and have read and accept the Terms of Use