This week I’m sharing a quick tip for followers of In The Wash—something I plan to do from time to time throughout the season.
For years, I did what most anglers do when moving from spot to spot: I hooked my plug to the stripper guide (the first guide) on my surf rod. I always made sure the hook never touched the ceramic insert, something I still see far too many anglers doing. A damaged insert can fray line over time and eventually lead to those frustrating “mystery break-offs” that seem to happen without warning during a cast or while fighting a fish.
The other obvious place to secure a lure is the reel handle, but that solution comes with its own drawbacks. For starters, it can scratch or damage the handle itself. On an aluminum handle, that may be purely cosmetic, but on softer materials like EVA foam or rubber, the wear can be more significant. More importantly, lures have a habit of working themselves free from the handle at the worst possible times—while climbing over rocks, swimming, or deep wading. Suddenly, you have a plug swinging freely in the dark, which can range from mildly annoying when it snags a clump of seaweed to genuinely dangerous when it finds its way into your skin, wetsuit, or other gear.
My solution is simple and effective: attach a solid ring—the same type commonly used on tuna jigs—to your reel handle with a small zip tie. The solid ring provides a secure attachment point that keeps hooks firmly in place while you’re on the move. As an added bonus, it works perfectly with the paperclip-style clips many surfcasters use, such as the Tactical Anglers Power Clip, something that most certainly cannot be done when attaching a clip directly to a guide foot.
And before anyone points out that certain reels, like the ZeeBaaS, have a dedicated lure-hanging bar built into the reel foot, yes, I’m aware of it. In fact, I own and fish ZeeBaaS reels. Even so, I still prefer the solid-ring setup. I find it easier to attach clips to, and it eliminates the possibility of accidentally opening a clip beyond its intended range, which can weaken its integrity over time.
It’s a small modification, but one that makes moving between spots safer, more convenient, and more secure.
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Wow great idea thanks Toby. I’ve been doing this for years, but I put my split ring on the rod itself, somewhere below the reel seat, also secured with a zip tie. Not so much for lure transport but to attach the TA clip for rod transportation. Saw it on the SaltStrong YouTube channel.
The split ring works well, too, but I find it a tiny bit easier to attach a clip to the solid ring which is why I opted to go that direction. I tried attaching it directly to the rod, but I always found that I’d catch it on one thing or another and that doesn’t happen to me on the reel. I do also singe the end of the snipped off zip-tie with a lighter to round it off, again to catch it less frequently when unintended.
I saw a photo toby uploaded a while back with this setup, I was going to try it but forgot. This is a great reminder. Also, I took a tip from a previous episode about being confronted while fishing. The kid and I were on a public dock chunking some bait and and some yahoo tried kicking us off a public dock – like Toby suggested on the podcast – I just killed them with kindness and took the highroad and didn’t argue at all BUT we definitely didn’t leave because we were not doing anything wrong. You have people openly doing drugs and drinking in the park, but God forbid you’re fishing… why is it that people who are fishing and bought a license to do so always the ones to get confronted like they are doing something so wrong? Never understood that and never will.