Two

Two-Bit-Paddle-Tether

Hello, my name is Dan and I am a tight wad. I am so tight that if I swallowed a lump of coal, it would come out a diamond at the other end. That is why they made me the treasurer of this kayak fishing club. I am too cheap to buy gear if I can figure out a cheaper way to make it myself. Besides, half the fun of kayak fishing is figuring out innovative ways to rig out a yak for fishing.

Initially, I kept track of my paddle by tying it to a piece of rope which I then tied to the yak somewhere. It worked fine but admittedly the rope tended to get tangled and cluttered the cockpit. Then I saw some paddlers who had a nifty coiled tether attached to the paddle that stretched when they paddled and re-coiled into a neat short line when they let go of the paddle. I was envious and decided I needed one of those. I went to the store and found one. I looked at the price tag and remembered how cheap I was. That is when I decided to make one myself.

In the pics you can see the parts list and the finished product. The wire coil is a cell phone charger cord that I picked up at a thrift shop for a buck. I chopped off the ends and re-connected the ends to form a loop with the aluminum cable connectors (also called ferrule/stops). Then I used two Velcro straps to attach one end to the paddle and a carabineer clip to attach the other end to the yak. Easy and cheap, just like me!

You could make several of these of various lengths to hold other mobile gear as well, like your gaff hook, pliers, fish lip gripper, knife etc. etc. The cell phone charger cord works perfectly with 1/8 inch cable connectors but you could also use regular phone cords (you can get ‘em cheap at the Dollar Store), with slightly larger cable connectors…and if you are really dirt cheap, like I am, you can use a hack saw and cut one cable connector into two pieces and get two connectors for the price of one. That also makes them smaller and easier to pinch around the cable with vice grips, a vice or a whack from the hammer.