Being a niche sport, with several complex actions, the design of prosthetics tailored to fly fishing makes them either expensive or difficult to obtain. They are also often limited to a single purpose such as holding the rod, or over-engineered like body-powered split hook prosthetics. The challenge was therefore to tailor prosthetic devices to Alex’s prosthetic sockets and fishing equipment to be able to complete all the fly-fishing actions while remaining light, comfortable, and functional. 3D printing was elemental to building these devices in a cheap and functional manner.

The final design was produced after three iterations, two of which were user-tested to ensure compatibility with Alex’s motor functions and fishing equipment. The final designed products consist in the following:

1. Right arm prosthetic attachment that holds the rod handle, which is optimised for casting as well as resisting the forces from a fish pulling. This attachment was designed to be attachable and detachable by users independently when they wish to stop or take a break.

2.  Left arm prosthetic attachment which can hold and release the reel handle. A rigid elbow joint was designed to efficiently translate shoulder rotation into the reeling motion. The attachment also contains a feature designed to hold and release fly line between the reel and first rod guide.

3. A mechanism that attaches onto the user’s reel that allows adjusting the drag prior to a cast, using only shoulder and elbow rotation.

4. A universal wheelchair attachment that can be used to support the rod while the user takes a break, and help pick it up independently after.