I agree hoarding at a certain degree becomes a form of abuse.

This time did your dad show up to give you this gift? That's an attempt to put in the time, IMHO. Plus, again he's trying to get you something you might like that is small and related to your beloved fishing. Maybe he didn't know you have a fishing flashlight, maybe he doesn't grasp the concept of just calling you to hang. Many people in that generation don't do that with their kids, there has to be a purpose to the visit, i.e.: to bring you the flashlight.

If he was bringing you large, useless items just to make himself feel better, totally ignoring your simplicity, I'd say, yeah, he's a d***. But he doesn't seem to be doing that, he sounds like he is trying to reach out, trying to understand you in his limited way.

I agree you build relationships by putting in the time but I think lots of dads struggle with this. My own dad was honestly an unpredictably violent, mean man until in the 90s he started an antidepressant for pain and he became 180 degrees opposite. He lived close by when i married and had kids but even though he was a changed man, he was not comfortable coming by for a visit unless I initiated and my mother was present. But if I needed something fixed, he'd pop over, fix it and be ready to leave until I said how about a cold drink? Only then did he sit still long enough for a conversation. He was not good about putting the time in. If anyone said I would live with him voluntarily, I'd never have believed it. Now he's forced to put the time in because I had 76 MD appts last year (I don't count them, it was a tax thing) and he is my ride. That's a lot of hours talking, singing, and silence in the car. He's being forced to put in the time and we are much closer much to my surprise. What happened to me totally screwed up my life plan but it gave me some things I never had reason to expect, like a closer relationship with my dad. I sang American Pie with my dad in the car at 7, if someone said this would happen when I was 45, I would've said you haven't met my dad. The truth was I was the one who hadn't met my dad.

maybe you are getting a second chance and the price is a flashlight?

only you know your dad and what you believe to be his true intentions but sometimes they catch us on the sly opening up a whole new path to a different relationship.