FLYMPH FORUM

What do you use to separate the sections of a cane rod when your hands are extremely cold as in salmon fishing? With trout fishing it's not so bad because the weather in Nova Scotia is fairly warm at the end of trout season. However, salmon fishing is another story and towards the end of salmon fishing the temps can be very cold and my hands don't work as well...lol. Your suggestions will be much appreciated, thank you.

Well whatever you do don't twist.

If you can just take it home together and do it in your house. I do that in the winter time if it's too cold.

raven4ns, Howdy;

I don't own anything that is made from bamboo and try to keep my hands warm,
that said, I'd think the something along the lines of those flat rubber jar lid grippers
might work ???
http://www.containerstore.com/shop/kitc ... ign=google
only a suggestion ...

hank

I have the same problem. Not with salmon, but with cold tired fingers. I use two tools that allow a better grip of the rod sections. The first is a pair of rubber jar openers (as described above).


I fold a jar opener over each section of the rod, and they give a much better grip than hands and fingers alone. This works most of the time.


Sometimes, however, cold fingers just aren't sufficient for a good grip even with the jar openers. In that case, a second pair of homemade tools comes out.





Each is a bundle of six 3/16" wood dowels tied together with Span Flex, which is a stretchy rubber fly tying material. A material similar to Span Flex comes under many different names, and any of them would work. Stretchy rubber legs would probably work also.

I fold a rubber jar opener over each rod section, and then wrap a dowel gripper over each jar opener. The bundle is now ~2/3" to 1" in diameter, instead of a thin little rod. My whole whole hand can then be brought to bear on the grip (not mostly the fingers). The stretchy connections of the individual dowels allows a good even grip all around the rod regardless of its diameter (tip, butt, etc.).

The combination of rubber jar openers and dowel grippers has never failed. (Knock on bamboo.)

Chris Stewart (our friendly TenkaraBum) was kind enough to include a small patch of a foam grippy material, looks exactly like the little cushioned rubberized mat you put under your carpet to keep it in place, and I've seen it in the grocery store as a kind of gripper. He offers it as a way of dislodging tenkara rod sections if they are stuck. I would make the assumption that this little piece of material would be a huge help when your hands are too cold. You could buy a 3'x5' piece at Target or HD and share enough with everyone you know. I believe Chris sells them on his site for convenience.

w

Thank you everyone for your responses. I'm off this morning to find some grippers and a few other items I need. If winter doesn't soon lose it's grip I'm going to need to rethink fly fishing and look at ice fishing. Thank you again for the help.

raven4ns wrote:What do you use to separate the sections of a cane rod when your hands are extremely cold as in salmon fishing? With trout fishing it's not so bad because the weather in Nova Scotia is fairly warm at the end of trout season. However, salmon fishing is another story and towards the end of salmon fishing the temps can be very cold and my hands don't work as well...lol. Your suggestions will be much appreciated, thank you.

Use bigger, stronger muscles.

No, I do not suggest extra time at the gym

An approach you way want to consider is to use your thigh muscles to aid the process. Place rod behind your legs, in the crook of your knees - and your hands holding the rod, on the outside of each thigh.

Your hands are tasked to guide/hold the rod, and keep it straight - while pushing your legs apart in a controlled and deliberate manner.

Does that description of the procedure make sense to you?

Cheers,
Hans W

Hans - I've needed to use that method on a few occasions. Ruard taught me that maneuver.

Hans Weilenmann wrote:An approach you way want to consider is to use your thigh muscles to aid the process. Place rod behind your legs, in the crook of your knees - and your hands holding the rod, on the outside of each thigh.

Your hands are tasked to guide/hold the rod, and keep it straight - while pushing your legs apart in a controlled and deliberate manner.
Cheers,
Hans W

I've used that method also. One time my grip on the tip section slipped due to weak fingers, and my ever-so-strong and speedy legs quickly removed the adjacent snake guide on the rod. That's when my search for improved grippers got serious. --Phil

ThirdMeadow wrote:I've used that method also. One time my grip on the tip section slipped due to weak fingers, and my ever-so-strong and speedy legs quickly removed the adjacent snake guide on the rod. That's when my search for improved grippers got serious. --Phil

*chuckle*

I did say "in a controlled and deliberate manner."...

Cheers,
Hans W