I was looking at a new rod the other day, and of course it came with one of those little keeper rings. This got me wondering: How many people use these things nowadays? They strike me as a throwback to the time when a nine-foot leader was the standard set-up, and anything more was considered downright eccentric. With today's longer leaders (on stillwaters,at least) most people seem to bring the leader back round the reel and up the rod to whichever ring is handiest. Is this standard practice, or do the keeper rings still serve their purpose?
Angus

Sometimes use them when salmon fishing with a short leader but never with a trout rod.

I used to use them till I joined up here and somebody mentioned taking the leader round the reel. Makes much more sense to keep the fly line out of the tip ring. I felt rather foolish for not having thought of it myself.

That may have been me..........I find that if you have the leader in the top ring, which you will have if you use a keeper ring, it is prone to kinking. Take the line around the spool of the reel and hook it up in a suitable eye. You can handle leaders nearly twice as long as the rod with no tears. Why doesn't the fly line kink? I don't know, probably because it forms a larger loop when it exits the top ring...................birdsnest

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Fear not if I steal from your side, as of yore, from paradise streams to fish Teifi once more.
BN based in Wolverhampton

i never seem to use mine anymore for salmon or trout fishing

Me too, and I only realised I could do this after reading this post

OMG! I often use mine. Of course my fly line isn't in the ring tip because my leader is longer than the rod, even with it around the reel.

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How poor a thing, sometimes I find,
Will captivate a greedy mind - Isaac Walton.

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How much longer?..............you could always go around the reel a few times...............birdsnest

__________________
Fear not if I steal from your side, as of yore, from paradise streams to fish Teifi once more.
BN based in Wolverhampton

I use mine all the time always have.

BK

I hate think about my keepers ring. He drinks Holtses bitter.


Sorry I'm in a funny mood today

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One fish, one fly, one man, several hats.
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