Hair Ties as Rod Straps
Deneki Outdoors
If you’re headed out to fish a local piece of water, there’s often no need to bring your rod in a tube – rod tubes are bombproof, but they’re also clunky to carry and pack, they make you take the reel off your rod, and they’re totally overkill if you’re just hopping in your car. Taking your rod along in its sock (the fabric divider that goes inside the rod tube) can work, but getting the sock loaded and tied is an extra step, and the fabric often winds up wet at the end of the day.
For local fishing, really all you need is something that keeps the pieces of your rod together. It turns out there’s a whole category of products that fit the bill perfectly. They’re cheap and varied and you can buy them even in most convenience stores. Enter girls’ hair ties!
For 6 Year Old Girls, And You
It turns out that the diameter of a girl’s pony tail is nearly identical to the diameter of the average broken-down fly rod bundle. Hair ties are designed to be used by a 6 year old girl with no view of the situation and both hands behind her head – if you find them hard to manipulate you’d better go see your doctor. As an added bonus, hair ties come in all kinds of zany colors and patterns which make it easy to spot your rod in that pile of gear, and they give your buddies plenty of material for campfire ‘compliments’.
As opposed to ties that are really just coated rubber bands, we prefer hair ties that have a ball or knot attached to act as a stopper – you can just loop the tie around the sections of your rod, pass the stopper through, pull tight and you’re done. Your corner store probably has them – here’s a zany option if you’re looking for visibility and conversation fodder.
Originally published here.