Fishing can sometimes be hard enough as it is.
Check out these simple fishing hacks to help make your life a little bit easier.
Prevent Rod Ends From Sticking Together
If you fish a multi-piece rod that you break down after each trip consider this simple hack to prevent rod ends from sticking together.
The segmented ends of your fishing rod are called ferrules. There is a male and female ferule for each section of the rod that is joined together. The male ferrule slides into the female ferrule.
The next time you're piecing your rod together, run your finger down the crease of your nose and use the oils from your nose to lubricate the male ferrule before joining the rod ends.
It seems weird but this provides just enough of a lubricant to prevent the ends from sticking together once it's time to breakdown the rod again.
The Power of a Fanny Pack
If you do a lot of fishing from the bank or tend to wade out into the water consider using a fanny pack. This is especially true for anglers that tend to travel light.
Shoulder carry bags or anything of that sort are a great means of carrying your tackle but can sometimes be more of a hassle by nature of their design since not being easily accessible.
When wading in water, there isn't really a place to set down a shoulder carry bag without the risk of getting everything wet. The same goes for book bags or anything carried on your back.
A fanny pack overcomes this by giving you easy access to all of your tackle right in front of you.
It also double downs as a rod holder when tying on lures. Simply slip the rod handle down in between you and the fanny pack to completely free up your hands (and armpit) for easy reties.
Prevent Line From Getting Tangled On Hooks
Ever had this happen to you..?
You make an awesome cast with a jerkbait or crankbait to your target spot just to see your lure swimming back to you doing a bunch of barrel rolls because of the line wrapped around one of the hooks.
This is mainly due to too much slack in the line prior to the lure hitting the water. This is most common when casting into the wind or having a habit of making high, lofty casts.
This may be more of a technique than a hack, but one way to avoid this from happening is to place tension on the line just before your lure hits the water.
For spinning applications this can be accomplished by closing your bail right before the lure hits the water. When doing this please, please, please manually close your bail with your off hand as opposed to reeling to close the bail. This takes unnecessary stress off of your reel and also helps with preventing loose line loops on your spool during the beginning part of your retrieve.
If using a baitcaster, use your thumb to stop the spool prior to engaging the reel and beginning your retrieve.
This simple little action puts just enough tension on the line to prevent slack from having the chance to wrap around a hook. This is especially true when fishing flimsy line such as braid.
If fly fishing, this issue is avoided during setup by ensuring you are using a tapered leader as opposed to a leader line of all the same pound test.
Running a tapered leader allows your line and lure to fold over nicely into the water. Though convenient, using one strip of fishing line for your leader will often lead to your lure falling down on top of other slack leader line hindering your overall presentation.
Two Ideas for Preserving Fishing Line
A lot of external factors can impact the life of fishing line. Temperature, humidity, and UV light being some of the big ones. Monofilament and fluorocarbon are the most affected fishing line types.
When possible, try and keep your line in the dark and out of direct contact with as many external environmental factors as possible.
Unless you have an entire bait shop worth of fishing line, one easy way to protect it while in storage is to keep all your spools in a cheap insulated lunch bag. This protects the line from abrasions and the above listed factors extending the life of the fishing line.
There's some guys that take it a step farther and will actually vacuum seal their fishing line spools prior to storage. Not always necessary, but it does act as a great long term storage solution.
Do you eat a lot of oatmeal? Consider repurposing the big tube-like containers that oatmeal comes in. These tubes are a near perfect fit for smaller spools of line (250 yards or less) and are a cheap, effective means of organizing your fishing line while also keeping it out of direct sunlight.
Repurpose Your Soft Plastics
Before tossing torn plastics consider using them for other fishing techniques.
A lot of us are constantly changing out Texas-rigged soft plastics because of rips and tears. Before throwing those plastics away consider re-using them for either a Ned rig or wacky rig.
We mentioned this once before in "Senko Bass Fishing: 5 Different Ways to Rig it and Catch More Fish" but a 5" Senko with a small tear can easily be cut down and transformed into a 3" Ned rig worm.
The same goes for finesse worms. If you get a tear in a 7" finesse worm at the ends consider salvaging the worm and turning it into a 6" wacky rig worm or a swim jig trailer.
It seems silly but it will end up saving you a lot of money over time.
Save Braided Line By Flipping It
Whether using spinning or baitcasting tackle, there is a good chance that you have a lot of unused braid on your reel.
Before throwing away 100+ yards of expensive braid due to abrasion or the braid beginning to loosen up, consider flipping the line.
Flipping the line just means swapping the tag end of the fishing line with the end that ties directly to the spool or your reel. This can be done for both spinning and baitcasting setups.
An easy way to accomplish this is to tie off your tag end to a fence in your back yard or light pole in a parking lot and start walking to strip the line off the spool. Once you've pulled everything off the spool go back to your starting location and begin respooling for there.
By doing this you're saving money and fishing with essentially "new" line.
Happy Fishing Y'all!