Avert Fishing Travel Emergencies With These Three New Products
Fishing trips and “unexpected equipment complications” seem to be joined at the hip. We put our gear through incredible stress on the highways, in checked luggage and of course on the water – which occasionally results in failure, often at the worst possible times.
Fortunately, the fishing industry is pretty good about learning from our mistakes and creating products to avoid or combat them in the future. Here are three relatively new ones that would have saved me some heartache in the past:
Five or six years ago, the tiptop guide on my El Salto cranking rod developed a nick in the ring. Every time I’d go to make a hard cast, or set the hook on a fish, the line would break at the tip. It took a while, but I’m not quite as slow as I look and eventually I figured out the source of the problem. I also had the proper replacements. Unfortunately, when I heated up the damaged one and pulled it off I may have harmed the tip of the blank. Since then, the “new” version has never been 100%, and I’ve replaced it. That expensive mistake could have been avoided if I’d had this simple and inexpensive tool, which removes the tip guide without causing any damage to the blank.
Seacured Fishing HD "Release Me" Trailer Brake Release
On my first long-distance boating trip to Lake Winnipesaukee in 1998, I had trailer troubles. The wiring was boogered up so that only with some major effort could I intermittently get it to back up down the ramp or into a parking space. I made it work, and subsequently learned that many boats come with a “key” to lock out surge brakes, but at the time I was panicked. I’m not the only one. I know for a fact that one Elite Series pro (who I won’t name for fear of embarrassing him) made his way to Florida this season only to find out that he couldn’t back up. If he’d had this release, it would have been a non-issue.
6th Sense Deep Reach Stainless Pliers
Whether you’re trying to avoid a dead fish penalty in a tournament, or just want to leave the resource as you found it, proper hook removal is critical. Usually regular pliers will work, and in a worst case scenario you can just cut the line, but often situations arise between those two extremes. A long-nosed pair of 8-inch non-rusting pliers can help you avoid killing or harming your catch – and they’re good for plenty of other tasks, too. Furthermore, they’re not so expensive that if you drop them in the drink it’s a complete tragedy.
