Kayak fishing rod leash lanyards

Author: josh

Category: Equipment, rigging & preparation

Created on Saturday, 04 February 2012 18:54

Written by Josh

Not so long ago I came up with a new way to go about leashing my rods and it was in designing the Bullhorn rod holder system that I came up with it and I arrived at this because it made sense given the moulded eyelets at the end of each RAM tube used. The major pro to this arrangement is that rods are leashed solidly into the rod holder, which is more secure than a loose leash. It's stood up to the test of time pretty well and I'm inclined to leash rods like this whenever I am trolling 2 lines at once. There are times, however, that its simpler and quicker to secure the rod by attaching the leash snap clip to somewhere on the rod. For me this has typically been the bail arm of the reel, or otherwise the arms of the guide closest to the reel... both of which is a bit of a no-no. This doesn't really do any favours to the rod or the reel and although I haven't yet experienced any serious problems doing it that way, for sure, the potential is there. So I've been thinking of a simple leash lanyard for kayak fishing rods and came up with a solution that is inspired by a modern archery bow string rigging technique. Specifically, the d-loop used for arrow-release mechanisms on modern bows.

I had a few attempts at mimicking this sort of rig on the base of the rod where it meets handle, each time using different string materials. Each attempt seemed to work quite well, though I found that the spectra cord (as used in Hobie kayaks) particularly good. Though I was pleasantly surprised at how secure the knots seemed to be I wasn't convinced that they would hold up as well on a rod shaft as they might a bow string and after a few quick attempts at dislodging them I was able to do so. So I came up with a slightly different way to do it, which although not quite as clean looking, is certainly more secure.

I achieved this by typing a small stopped knot a couple of inches at the end of the line (instead of freying and burning an end down to a knob). I tied the rest of the knot the same way, using the stopper knot instead of the knot to secure the loop in place. I then used the spare couple of inches of line to secure the position by tying a couple of half-hitches. The other end is secured precisely the same way, with each tab freyed and melted down. I'm yet to test these on water *shakes fist at weather gods* but I think these are going to work out pretty well. They also seem to double as a reasonable hook keeper as well, which is something else I was using guides for (and probably shouldn't have been).