Taming the Spool

If you're a fly fisherman, it's likely that you have purchased a spool of tippet that included an elastic band around the line to help hold it in place and to uniformly dispense the tippet. Also, if you have had a tippet spool around for any length of time , you have probably experienced an elastic that looses it's stretch which causes an uncontrollable mess, usually occurring stream-side. You can go to just about any fly fishing supplier and order replacement retainers for around $5 for a pack of 4, or you can create your own from a few inexpensive items from any local craft store.


To begin you will need to purchase some 6mm craft beads, 1/8" wide elastic band, 1/2" heat shrink tubing, and some super glue. You will also need a pair of sharp scissors and a butane lighter.






Step 1. Cut the elastic band into 6 inch lengths, then glue the tips of the band to each side of your craft bead. You can use hot melt glue, instead of Super Glue, if you prefer.





Step 2. Cut a peice of shrink tubing roughly the same length as the craft bead. Slide the tubing over the craft bead and heat the tubing with lighter until it shrinks firmly over the bead. This helps secure the band to the craft bead.






Step 3. At this point, you're pretty much in business. Simply slide your tippet through the back of the craft bead and slip the elastic over the tippet spool.





This simple trick can also be used to help manage larger spools of line, by simply using wider elastic and even larger beads. Also, using different color shrink tubing can be a quick reference for different tippet or line sizes