The Amazingly Simple, Effective & Versatile Foam Line Holders.

1 Inch Survival Piece

Foam Winder Screw Cap

Foam Winder Rod Plug

If you fish Keiryu or Tenkara, then you are quite familiar with line holders (winders, spools), those little round widgets that hold your entire line. They come in a variety of forms, from plastic, to wood, to foam. Perhaps the most traditional, and probably well known, line holder is the ubiquitous blue plastic model made by Meiho of Japan. It’s a nice design, featuring notches to secure a hook, a yellow foam inner channel to house your line, and slits on the sidewalls to secure the line to the holder. But is it the best solution? And how important are line holders anyway?

Years of fishing telescopic rods have taught me an important lesson: Line holders actually matter….a lot. They are a very important accessory to your fishing expedition. When things go wrong with holders, bad things happen. The biggest issue, of course, is hooks coming loose and getting snagged on any nearby material, whether it be clothing, bagging, or a fishing line. Nothing is worse then a simple hook causing a tear in your new shirt. The other issue is what the Meiho and other holders DON’T do. Namely, the ability to write on them to identify your rigs and the variety of other inventive ways they come in hand.

The fact is, while I first looked upon foam holders with some disdain, they have proven to be the most effective, practical, and versatile solution for me. Lets take a closer look:

Mark Your Foam Winders with a Sharpie.

Label it! Probably the single biggest advantage of the foam winders is that you can easily label them using a big bold sharpie that is easy to see when out in the field. If you plan to have lots of lines, of different lengths and tippet strengths, then labeling them is a must. With a foam winder, it is as easy as grabbing your sharpie or pen and writing directly on the winder. Easy and effective.

Hook Protection! I usually fish 2 nymph rigs and will often switch out or need to replace a nymph (either the bottom fly or swap out the top tag line). When you are working on one fly, where is the other fly? If it is not secured to something, then it is liable to do what hooks are good at doing and hook into something you don’t want it to. Until I started using foam winders, I had more than one hook find its way onto to my shirt sleeve. Not fun. With a foam winder, the other hook is always in the foam, nice and safe. Foam winders even work to hold other parts of a rig, like pointed indicators - just punch them through the foam.

It Floats & Weighs Nothing. This is pretty self explanatory. While all holders float, these foam winders are extremely buoyant and because of that, I trust them more. Being super light also makes them perfect for those looking to minimize weight on their backpacking trips.

Survival Gear

This is what really differentiates foam winders vs. ordinary holders. No other line holders/winders I have ever used can come to the rescue and save or enhance your fishing expedition when circumstances arise. Lets break this down.

Temporary Rod Plug & Screw Cap. Losing either the screw cap or rod plug can end your fishing day. I lost my rod plug once and thought I could make do. A while later, I noticed the tip sections had started to come out of the rod while moving about. I had gotten lazy and let my hand slightly down, causing the lillian and tip sections to start sliding out of the rod. I realized then that I was just a few steps away from snapping the tip had I continued walking.

The foam winder became my survival gear. Solution: take a foam winder and cut a 1” inch piece and you have de facto temporary screw cap and rod plug. You can adjust the size depending on your rod. It works well enough to keep you going. Tip: make sure the piece you cut produces a very snug fit for your particular rod.

Indicator. Using the same 1” piece of foam winder, cut 2 slits along each side, as per the red lines in the picture below. Make sure the cuts are non-aligned so you don’t end up cutting the piece in half. Now simply wrap the line 1 time around the foam slits and you have an indicator. To remove the indicator, I suggest just breaking the foam piece into two.

Rod Line Holder. The T100 and TN Provo rods come with split rings to attach your hook too. Japanese rods don’t have this feature and if I am using one, I always make it a point to use a rod line holder. If I’m missing that, I insert the foam winder onto the rod. The winders fit over most rods. For bigger rods, cut slits near the hole. Securing your hook when not in the water is a must!

Fly Box. In a pinch you can use the foam winders to secure a group of flies that you plan to use or parts of a rig, like extra tag lines.

Finally, a note about size. Our fist generation foam winders were too narrow. We got feedback on this and also realized it ourselves. Our new winders are much wider and more convenient. Let us know if you have any other suggestions.

We hope you have found some of these tips useful.

Tight Lines!

Foam Winder INDICATOR

Foam Winder ROD LINE HOLDER

Foam Winder FLY HOLDER