Spikes, not Yikes!
I stumbled across this C&F Line Pallet a few months ago. I’m a big fan of their products, having bought a few in the past. Their neodymium magnet fly patch is definitely better mouse trap worthy. So I was snooping around their website, saw this, found an online vendor (after not seeing any local retailers), and pulled the trigger.
What I motivated me to buy this is the fact that often struggle with my fly line often tangling when shooting line from my float tube. As it’s been said, you catch more fish more time your fly is in the water. And more your line gets tangled in your guides, less fish you catch.
Over the last couple of my times on the water, I was very pleased, as you can see from the picture, the line pallet fits perfectly inside of the stripping apron of my float tube. No worry about my pot belly bumping it off into the water. Even if that should happen, the base is made of open cell foam, so it will float.
If you look closely at the picture, you’ll see the ten plastic cones seated in their socket holes and the two pointed slots in the foam. The cones stack on top of each other, five apiece, and are stored in the two slots. Not a bad system for self-storage, but there is always the chance of the cones getting dislodged from this slots.
For the cones to stay properly seated in each of the mounting holes, they need to be pressed deep enough that they don’t easily wander out if you happen to nudge them. Though the base of the cones slide easily into the hole seats, there is a ridge just above the smooth seat part of the cones that must be pressed below the top of the foam pallet to insure proper seating.
Of course, some of you use a shooting or line taming basket of some kind, when fishing the salt. This is the same principle. There are even clips and a thin bungee to secure it to your waders. The line pallet hangs off of you in much the same manner as a line basket. If you’re wading, with this system, your fly line is supposed to hang with long and loose coils from the pallet. Fishing from the shore or while wading was the original purpose of the line pallet. But my thought was that it ought to work better than a basket when fishing from a float tube.
So the sea trial. Did it work as well as I hoped? Did it 100% eliminate the tangles that typically plague my stillwater fishing? Yes and no. It worked quite well in minimizing the tangles when I shoot line. Definitely at least a 60% reduction in both frequency and severity of tangling. That’s honestly saying a lot.
The deal is, it’s rare if any solution you find proves to be a 100% cure. The fact that snarls were cut down by over half is a worthwhile thing. Admittedly, a section of my fly line would occasionally sneak between the pallet and the stripping apron—but not all the time and no more often than shooting line wrapping around your reel or rod holder.
In the end, I say that the C&F Line Pallet has become indispensable as part of my stillwater fly fishing gear. Those times you know a long-distance “hero cast” is the thing you need the most, and you’ve drifted a bit from that missed strike position. Then the last thing you want is snarled line jamming up your double haul. A Line Pallet can help even your odds.
I stumbled across this C&F Line Pallet a few months ago. I’m a big fan of their products, having bought a few in the past. Their neodymium magnet fly patch is definitely better mouse trap worthy. So I was snooping around their website, saw this, found an online vendor (after not seeing any local retailers), and pulled the trigger.
What I motivated me to buy this is the fact that often struggle with my fly line often tangling when shooting line from my float tube. As it’s been said, you catch more fish more time your fly is in the water. And more your line gets tangled in your guides, less fish you catch.
Over the last couple of my times on the water, I was very pleased, as you can see from the picture, the line pallet fits perfectly inside of the stripping apron of my float tube. No worry about my pot belly bumping it off into the water. Even if that should happen, the base is made of open cell foam, so it will float.
If you look closely at the picture, you’ll see the ten plastic cones seated in their socket holes and the two pointed slots in the foam. The cones stack on top of each other, five apiece, and are stored in the two slots. Not a bad system for self-storage, but there is always the chance of the cones getting dislodged from this slots.
For the cones to stay properly seated in each of the mounting holes, they need to be pressed deep enough that they don’t easily wander out if you happen to nudge them. Though the base of the cones slide easily into the hole seats, there is a ridge just above the smooth seat part of the cones that must be pressed below the top of the foam pallet to insure proper seating.
Of course, some of you use a shooting or line taming basket of some kind, when fishing the salt. This is the same principle. There are even clips and a thin bungee to secure it to your waders. The line pallet hangs off of you in much the same manner as a line basket. If you’re wading, with this system, your fly line is supposed to hang with long and loose coils from the pallet. Fishing from the shore or while wading was the original purpose of the line pallet. But my thought was that it ought to work better than a basket when fishing from a float tube.
So the sea trial. Did it work as well as I hoped? Did it 100% eliminate the tangles that typically plague my stillwater fishing? Yes and no. It worked quite well in minimizing the tangles when I shoot line. Definitely at least a 60% reduction in both frequency and severity of tangling. That’s honestly saying a lot.
The deal is, it’s rare if any solution you find proves to be a 100% cure. The fact that snarls were cut down by over half is a worthwhile thing. Admittedly, a section of my fly line would occasionally sneak between the pallet and the stripping apron—but not all the time and no more often than shooting line wrapping around your reel or rod holder.
In the end, I say that the C&F Line Pallet has become indispensable as part of my stillwater fly fishing gear. Those times you know a long-distance “hero cast” is the thing you need the most, and you’ve drifted a bit from that missed strike position. Then the last thing you want is snarled line jamming up your double haul. A Line Pallet can help even your odds.
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