My rod leash

[Mandelstam]

Sometime soon I will bring my son on his first boat fishing trip. And I know how fast accidents happen when you are not paying attention, so I decided to make a rod leash that will secure that the rod at least don't sink to the bottom.

I dug up some paracord I had lying around to make the attachment loop on the rod.

I first gutted the paracord and made a spliced loop around the rod butt. Then the attachment loop was formed and seized with some whipping. The tag end was then secured with some ring bolt hitching. The end was pulled under the last hitches and secured.


The leash was made from some other cord I had lying around. Maybe not the color I would choose if I had another but it will do. The cord is doubled up and a series of True Lover's Knots (interlocked half hitches) is tied along the cord. A clip is then tied to the ends with a Snake knot.




The end of the leash can now be put through your belt or easily secured to the railing.

First I was only thinking of my son when I made this, but I sometimes fish from a smaller boat with a low railing and when the swell is bad I will feel a bit more at ease with this to secure the rod when you have to grab on to something fast.

Thanks for watching!

/Karl

[Bryan Young]

Nice work Karl. Those leashes are good to have for sure.

[Nessie Hunter]

I am an avid Float Tuber..
I have lost some hard to replace gear while tubing!!
I devised a leash system that is very cheap and works great...
I keep them in the pockets of my tube and use them if/when needed...

First I get the coiled long extension phone cords. (.99cent store)
Cut them to size I need (1 ten footer will easily make 2 leashes).
I used plastic clips (thinking rust & Saltwater use)...
Loop and black Tape clips onto ends of cord.

For the rods I use 2 zip ties.
One on lower handle, the other one through that ~ this forms the loop to clip onto.
The other clip is clipped to a "D" ring on the Tube, belt, railing etc....

Very cheap, efficient, and can just as easily be taken off (the 2 zip ties on rod) without damage.
The cords I have - I have used for about 7 years now and they are still in very good shape & usable... 
The plastic clips are in good shape after a lot of Salt & fresh water use...




.

[Mandelstam]

I am an avid Float Tuber..
I have lost some hard to replace gear while tubing!!
I devised a leash system that is very cheap and works great...
I keep them in the pockets of my tube and use them if/when needed...

First I get the coiled long extension phone cords. (.99cent store)
Cut them to size I need (1 ten footer will easily make 2 leashes).
I used plastic clips (thinking rust & Saltwater use)...
Loop and black Tape clips onto ends of cord.

For the rods I use 2 zip ties.
One on lower handle, the other one through that ~ this forms the loop to clip onto.
The other clip is clipped to a "D" ring on the Tube, belt, railing etc....

Very cheap, efficient, and can just as easily be taken off (the 2 zip ties on rod) without damage.
The cords I have - I have used for about 7 years now and they are still in very good shape & usable... 
The plastic clips are in good shape after a lot of Salt & fresh water use...

Sounds like an excellent setup!

I've actually looked for those long coiled extension cords but couldn't find any cheap here in Sweden, and as I have a rigging shop close by I had to make do with plain cord.

[Cone]

Nice work Mandelstam. You can also take a piece of wooden dowel and drill a hole through it. Stick a piece of heavy mono or weedeater line through the hole. Wrap the dowel with mono and drill a hole to stick the other end through. Drop it in boiling water for a few minutes and then put it in ice water. It makes a nice mono coil. The ends can be finished with hooks etc. and crimped on.    Bob

[Mandelstam]

Nice work Mandelstam. You can also take a piece of wooden dowel and drill a hole through it. Stick a piece of heavy mono or weedeater line through the hole. Wrap the dowel with mono and drill a hole to stick the other end through. Drop it in boiling water for a few minutes and then put it in ice water. It makes a nice mono coil. The ends can be finished with hooks etc. and crimped on.    Bob

Excellent idea! Thanks for the tip, Bob!

/K

[Alto Mare]

Nice work Mandelstam. You can also take a piece of wooden dowel and drill a hole through it. Stick a piece of heavy mono or weedeater line through the hole. Wrap the dowel with mono and drill a hole to stick the other end through. Drop it in boiling water for a few minutes and then put it in ice water. It makes a nice mono coil. The ends can be finished with hooks etc. and crimped on.    Bob

You are full of surprises Bob, that's a valuable tip you just gave us. I gave it a shot to see if it would actally work and it does work like a charm.

All I need to do is to crimp alotch on both ends and be all set.
Two years ago a young fisherman dropped one of my Penn and couldn't get it back . These will come handy, I will be making a few. Thanks Bob.

Karl, yours are also very nice, but I just don't have the patience for those.
Thanks for sharing .
Sal

[Bryan Young]

That's slick Bob.

[Mandelstam]

Nice work Mandelstam. You can also take a piece of wooden dowel and drill a hole through it. Stick a piece of heavy mono or weedeater line through the hole. Wrap the dowel with mono and drill a hole to stick the other end through. Drop it in boiling water for a few minutes and then put it in ice water. It makes a nice mono coil. The ends can be finished with hooks etc. and crimped on.    Bob

You are full of surprises Bob, that's a valuable tip you just gave us. I gave it a shot to see if it would actally work and it does work like a charm.

All I need to do is to crimp alotch on both ends and be all set.
Two years ago a young fisherman dropped one of my Penn and couldn't get it back . These will come handy, I will be making a few. Thanks Bob.

Karl, yours are also very nice, but I just don't have the patience for those.
Thanks for sharing .
Sal

A fisherman without patience?

I know, keeping it simple is often the best thing, but sometimes you just want something to occupy your hands with. So you might do stuff a bit more complicated than they need to be...

[BMITCH]

Karl, excellent cording work. Like an art form. I have Nooooo artistic talent, but I can boil water and drill out a dowel. These are all great ideas. Thanks for sharing guys.

Bob

[Alto Mare]

[Sal
A fisherman without patience?

You're absolutely right Karl, a fisherman without patience is worthless .

I'm not doing yours simply because I don't have your talent.

[Mandelstam]

[Sal
A fisherman without patience?

You're absolutely right Karl, a fisherman without patience is worthless .

I'm not doing yours simply because I don't have your talent.

Don't be modest, Sal, you could probably double dog a reel in your sleep. With your arms tied behind your back.

But thank you all for the kind words anyway.

/Karl

[Cone]

Sal, I'm hurt you didn't believe me.  The old curly cell phone cords work good for leashes too. Bob

[Cone]

If you make an eye on one end, a piece of double sided Velcro works well for attaching to spinning reels, etc. I think even Lowe's and Home Depot carries it. Bob

[Bill B]

I like the idea of the rod leashes...I was fishing a pond near me this am....two poles...one with bait and the other I was tossing soft baits...didn't like the idea of walking away from the pole so I tied a piece of 80 lb dacron from the pole to the sand spike....now after reading this I will definitely be making a couple...now I have a couple questions...realizing the drag to any reel (excluding Sal's Line of Tanks  )  will be set to less than 30 lbs, and since I'm fishing 15 lb on my bait pole, the drag is let to 1/3 of the breaking strength or <5 lbs....

1) So how strong would you need the leash to be
2) What is the breaking strength of gutted paracord
3) What is the breaking strength of curly phone cord
4) Does boiling and cooling the mono weaken it considerably
5) What is the breaking strength of .080 edger line and can I boil and cool it also

There's a lot to be said abut the artistry of knot tying, rope handling, and old time seamanship to do this....I still remember my dad teaching me to splice manilla rope and all the splinters i got...then he showed me how to use a zippo lighter to burn the splinters off the rope to make it easier to handle..