hook keepers

[João Miguel Oliveira]

Those Daiwa hook keepers are very good looking. Have to order a few

[Montanaro]

Cool, may have to get a couple.

[21farms]

ugh...trouble in paradise...so far, three of the rubber rings on my daiwa keepers have broke. luckily, i have the O-rings from my fuji keepers.

[cndbasshunter]

ugh...trouble in paradise...so far, three of the rubber rings on my daiwa keepers have broke. luckily, i have the O-rings from my fuji keepers.

Damn. I put 10 in my cart last week.

[Rfdong]

There's a drop shot hook keeper made by Reel Time Designs. Stainless with Tit coating (not sure why needs Tit) but comes with silicone tape or you can wrap semi permanently yourself. Seems best, most low profile for me.

http://www.reeltimedesigns.com/DropShot ... ystem.html

[21farms]

i am so puzzled by this. daiwa's new steez SVF AGS rods come standard with a fuji keeper pre-installed. why would they do this when they make their own hook keeper?

anyway, just thought i'd share an update on my daiwa keepers. i'm pretty sure my o-ring breakages were my fault...i used the smaller rings for a tighter fit and stretched them into place with one of those birdsnest picks. using the larger of the supplied o-rings, no more breakages.

[Drewgill]

There's a drop shot hook keeper made by Reel Time Designs. Stainless with Tit coating (not sure why needs Tit) but comes with silicone tape or you can wrap semi permanently yourself. Seems best, most low profile for me.

http://www.reeltimedesigns.com/DropShot ... ystem.html

Have you ordered from them lately? Website looks like it's straight from 1996.

[Inspectorlee]

Have you ordered from them lately? Website looks like it's straight from 1996.

I actually just ordered from them two weeks ago. I ordered four hook keepers and was a little concerned due to the look of the site. After a week went by, I still hadn't received my order so I contacted them by email and got a reply within the hour. Apparently my order went into their junk mail so they (a lady named Diane) told me they would ship it that day (Thursday). A week later, I still didn't have it, so I emailed them fairly late at night (11:30 pm or so) asking for a tracking number because I hadn't received a package. Diane responded back via email about 20 minutes later, but I did not notice because I had already gone to bed. The tracking number showed that it had been delivered two days prior, but I didn't have the package. Turns out one of my neighbors (I live in a building with two other residents) had picked up the package on her way into the building and had neglected to put it by my mailbox for whatever reasons; she's an old lady who's slightly ditzy. When I opened the package, I saw that a handwritten apology for the delay had been included and an additional hook keeper as a freebie.

To wrap up:

1. They are a legitimate business of only two individuals, hence the outdated look of the website.
2. Any emails to them were always returned within an hour, even late at night.
3. They have genuine customer service, would buy again.
4. The hook keeper works very well, much better than the Fuji hook keeper that I was using. My line (10 lb braid) kept catching on the Fuji keeper every 20 minutes or so when I was reeling. Nothing disastrous, but irritating nonetheless. After two full days with the Reel Time hook keeper, my line hasn't caught once.

[Drewgill]

Good stuff, thanks. I'll probably place an order for a few soon.

[21farms]

just wanted to provide an update on the daiwa keepers. the rubber rings ALL broke off months ago and i lost a few keepers without even knowing about it. very unhappy that the few that i had left, i ended up clipping off the tabs on both sides and securing them to my rods with a black zip tie. less than elegant but they worked okay and i still liked it better than the fujis.

THEN, i saw that TW got these:

cal coast "cali fishing clip"


i ordered one set to try them out and I LOVE 'EM! low profile, rock solid, don't get in the way and most versatile yet. either the largest one (black) or the medium (red) fit most of my rods. the small (yellow) one is pretty darn small though and only fit my old medium-lite rods. gonna order me 7-8 more sets but they're on backorder at the moment.

[zodiak311]

Best alternative hook keeper idea I have ever seen. Elevates those sharp hooks, and keeps them from scratching my blanks.
http://forums.tackletour.com/viewtopic. ... er#p539911

[uljersey]

Best alternative hook keeper idea I have ever seen. Elevates those sharp hooks, and keeps them from scratching my blanks.
http://forums.tackletour.com/viewtopic. ... er#p539911

Thanks

In my original thread, mark poulson brought up an idea about opening up the enclosed screw hole to make it easier to slip a T rigged bait into the keeper. A fresh blade in the box cutter took care of that. Works beautifully on both single & treble hook baits.

This is the same keeper as in my original post. It will be a year soon and it's not showing any signs of fatigue or weakening. However, the rubber splicing tape I wrapped around the blank to protect it is starting to deform a bit. It'll be fine for the remainder of the season, I'll have to cut the keeper off and start fresh before next season. It certainly has well exceeded my expectations.

[zodiak311]

Best alternative hook keeper idea I have ever seen. Elevates those sharp hooks, and keeps them from scratching my blanks.
http://forums.tackletour.com/viewtopic. ... er#p539911

Thanks

In my original thread, mark poulson brought up an idea about opening up the enclosed screw hole to make it easier to slip a T rigged bait into the keeper. A fresh blade in the box cutter took care of that. Works beautifully on both single & treble hook baits.

This is the same keeper as in my original post. It will be a year soon and it's not showing any signs of fatigue or weakening. However, the rubber splicing tape I wrapped around the blank to protect it is starting to deform a bit. It'll be fine for the remainder of the season, I'll have to cut the keeper off and start fresh before next season. It certainly has well exceeded my expectations.

I just cut the loop with a blade, and most of my lines slide right through the gap. Have used it on many of my rods. Thanks!

[toddmc]

The O-ring style keepers didn't work for me either.
Don't waste your time with a keeper in front of the foregrip unless your foregrip is a big enough diameter to keep line from catching on the keeper. You will need to put the keeper close to the foregrip, which doesn't work for me because I like to put my finger on the blank. The old model Loomis IMX and GLX had a foregrip that protects the keeper, but I've moved away from this style of foregrip.
I tried open and closed keepers wrapped in every place conceivable in front of a reel seat with no foregrip, but the line always seems to catch on the keeper when there is any wind.
The Reel Time Designs open-ended keeper works, but they eventually bend out because they are very flexible. I have a couple of the early model that must be a decade old. Maybe they are better now.
Kigan makes a new closed-end keeper that St. Croix uses on the Mojo and Avid line that looks like it may catch your line a little less. I may try one of these on my next custom if I can get my hands on one.
Kigan also makes a sturdy open-ended keeper for the dropshot that you will see wrapped below the reel seat on the spinning rod in the picture. This position works best for me.
I really like a standard four inch zip tie on the middle of the full cork rear grip of my casting rods. The casting rod in the picture shows the location. Surprisingly, your hands won't touch the zip tie on the cast if you put it in the right place. There will be a gap when you close the zip tie that is perfect for almost any hook.