Floater instead of lanyard

I hate tethering stuff to my kayak. Will this work?

Throw it in the water 

I'm a rod leash guy, and I will tell you why! Last year, I was fighting a feisty Chinook when out of nowhere a seal grabbed a hold of it. Before I could react, my rod was ripped out of my hands. Thankfully I had leashed the rod...I was able to tuck the leash under my arm and grab the rod in mid air before the leash got pulled tight and ripped free from the kayak. I lost my fish and flasher, a fair trade to keep my rod.

A floating rod would have been no good in that scenario.


But that does look very functional if you happen to spill that rod over the side of the kayak while handling a fish in the net.

 I use floats on my freshwater gear and the majority of what I use in the sound because leashes can be a pain. However I leash in the ocean or anytime I'm using upwards of 4oz terminal tackle. What led me to this was watching my buddy's rod go under at Westport. He had plenty of flotation, but his jig was snagged on the bottom and the current pulled his rod under as if it nothing was on it.

An advantage of putting floatation on your fishing gear is that you don't end up with a big snarl of gear leashes hanging all over your kayak.  A disadvantage of putting floatation on your fishing gear is that if a piece of gear falls overboard, you may not notice that it's missing for a long time, and you may not be able to find it.  For example, about 15 minutes after landing a fish this weekend, I realized that I had been dragging my net around in the water by its leash.  If I hadn't had the net on a leash, who knows if I'd have been able to find it.  Another disadvantage is that if your kayak gets dumped over, your gear can start drifting away, and it may be difficult to corral all the various pieces of loose floating gear.

Here are two alternatives to cord leashes and putting floatation on your gear, which you may find useful for certain pieces of your gear:

1.  Clips or carabiners.  You can attach clips or carabiners to pieces of gear so you can clip the gear to something on your kayak.  I find that clips work well for items such as a water bottle or a pair of scissors which you aren't going to need in a hurry, but not so well for items such as a net or a fish whacker, which you will need to grab fast while you're wrestling with a fish.  A disadvantage of clips and carabiners is that if you unclip a piece of gear from your kayak and then drop it in the water, it's gone.

2.  Retractors and retractable dog leashes.  Fishing gear retractors and small retractable dog leashes are a good way to attach fishing rods, nets, folding knives, fish whackers, scissors, pliers, and similar items to your kayak, because you don't end up with a lot of loose cords hanging all over your kayak, you can grab the items quickly with minimal interference from the leash, and if the item goes overboard, it stays attached to your kayak.  See my posting at http://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=11719.msg130535#msg130535 for pictures of how I use retractable dog leashes to attach larger pieces of gear to my kayak.

Here is a picture which shows various retractors in action on my 13' Revolution.  Fishing retractors attached to the rod holder on my left gunwale are hanging onto a pair of scissors and a folding knife which sit in the left side pocket, and a retracting dog leash is holding onto my rod.  Fishing retractors attached to the fish finder base on my right gunwale are hanging onto a pair of pliers and a fish whacker which sit in the right side pocket.  I also have a water bottle, a fish stringer, and a pee funnel clipped behind my seat with small carabiners, and a net behind me on a retractable dog leash.  It's all pretty convenient, tidy, and safe.  The only long cord leash I use is the leash on my paddle.