On 8/14/2016 at 1:38 AM, Bluebasser86 said:

Hook keeper with hook bonnets and/or lure wraps to prevent those scratches on the rods. I have some cheap reels I don't care about how they look that I'll put a bait on the reel though. 

that's me too.  i have some lure wraps to keep it from scratching the rods, best way to do it and it eliminates those trebles getting buried into everything else along the way!

10 hours ago, fishballer06 said:

My issue with these is the oring dries out and breaks fairly often, and you have to be careful where you place them on your rod. I wasted two spools of fluoro figuring this out. The line can catch on it during a cast and cause a nasty backlash. 

Why Shimano didn't put a hook keep on the Zodias is beyond me... 

Hmm, I haven't experienced either of those issues yet. How often are they drying out on you? Mine have been on all year no issue. 

46 minutes ago, MassYak85 said:

Hmm, I haven't experienced either of those issues yet. How often are they drying out on you? Mine have been on all year no issue. 

About every two month's. 

I'm currently trying a different type of rubber oring to see if that helps. I repair paintball guns as a side business, so it has its perks I guess. 

I use the hook keepers on my rods. I've never seen a reason to do anything else. I've never snapped a rod due to scratches from hooks on the hangers. You will eventually get some very small scratches but nothing crazy and if they really bug you, they can be fixed with a touch of clear nail polish. 

What you want to prevent is the hooks nicking the line. I use lure wraps and wrap the line around the rod, tighten the line and pull it out, then spin the rod 2 times,  using the guides to hold the wrapped line, plus rod sleeves when put back into the rod locker. Don't use the reel ever, use the lure hanger if it's out of the way and they are because my rods are custom made or use a guide frame, not the ring.

Tom

Fuji EZ Keeper as well. 

p.s. - when I get a texas rigged keeper on a baitcasting rod that catches the line on the cast I cut that sucker off (one of my pet peeves with rod makers)

On 8/14/2016 at 9:10 AM, Bankbeater said:

The one thing I will not do is put the hook into the cork handle of the rod.

that made my stomach hurt - have you ever seen anyone do this?

i usually do trebles on the reel and single hooks on the rod. treble lures are removed from the rod/reel before the drive home.

On 13 de agosto de 2016 at 11:00 PM, DubyaDee said:

Do you keep your lure on the hook keeper or on the reel? I think there are pro's and con's of each. I've also seen some pro's reel a lure right up to the tip and throw it back on the deck. Obviously saving time is important and they don't care about messing up a rod or two.

What do you do and why?

 

On the reel -----> NEVER !

Why ? ----> I hate scratches on my reels, my reels, even the very old ones, with one exception, look like out of the box.

I have one rod with a hook keeper down past the reel seat on the butt section.

I can't decide if I like it there or not.

I have a couple of fly reels with built in hook keepers...wonder why gear makers haven't picked up on that?

The rods I put together don't have hook keepers so the lure goes on the reel. The rods that have hook keepers, I use the keeper. I noticed the other day my curado  was all scratched up from bumping up and down the river. At the moment I was po'd but I bought it to be used and abused so I got over it  

My hook keeper is my spinning reel.

With my baitcasters, always on the reel. It keeps the hook point out of harm's way, and most of my rods don't have keepers anyway.