On my last flyfishing weekend getaway I headed to a tailwater I love to fish. I usually go with a friend but this time I went solo. I was really needing some quality time on the river. My first full day on the water did not disappoint as fish were caught on soft hackle, nymphs, midges, and dries throughout the day. Retiring to the house I rented (on the river) I fixed something to eat and then tied flies while watching tv for the next 2-3 hours. I decided to use a chest pack the following day instead of my vest so I switched things out accordingly. The following morning I fished a stretch of water that was "good" and I was the only one on the water at the time. I was fishing a tandem rig with 7x tippet on the bottom fly which I had rigged up before leaving for the river. The wind began to freshen and the bite was picking up. It dawned on me at that point I did not have any nippers with me. Granted, not the worst thing in the world to be without on the river, but for me it was pretty discouraging as I change flies alot through the day. I was thinking about my options ... go back to the house and get the nippers, or, get out and drive to a fly shop, or, just clip the line as close to the eye of the hook with my teeth. I really didn't want to leave the river as I had taken a good 20 minutes to slowly get in position, and leaving would take a little more than an hour round trip. I decided to just tough it out. The water was clear and about 2 feet deep and this particular section was covered with didymo on the bottom. If you don't know what didymo is, we also call it rock snot. It was thick and totally covered the rocks. I'm looking down at my feet as I slowly begin to walk and I see what appears to be a pair of hemostats, at least I saw one of the finger loops sticking out of the didymo. I reached down to get them and would you believe, on the other loop of the hemostats was a swivel clip with a pair of nippers. I laughed out loud. Isn't that pretty cool