How can you improve on something as simple as a tenkara line spool? After all, it’s nothing more than a spindle to wrap your line around for storage and transport, right? Think again. Tenkara USA has literally just reinvented the wheel with their latest innovation–The Keeper.
The Keeper’s most important innovation is that it features a rubber core that catches and tightly holds the line when winding and unwinding. With most line spools, you wind half the line, drop the spool, and you end up with a bird’s nest on your hands. Not so with The Keeper. The rubber insert traps the line with friction exactly where you stopped winding so you won’t have to rewind if you drop the spool or lose attention.
And, that’s not all. There are actually two slots. So you have the option of either holding two lines, or one line and tippet material.
One nice design detail of the spool is the fly keeper. It’s a really easy-to-use bar (on both sides of the spool) that perfectly aligns with four carefully placed notches in the rim of the spool to secure the line.
A common peeve when winding your tenkara line around a spool is that it catches your thumb or fingers when grasping it around the outer rim. The Keeper eliminates that with two rubber-lined holes that are actually made for human fingers. They make winding much more ergonomic, yet still allow for sliding the spool on your rod for transport.
And now for the James Bond feature… This spool is also a fly box! There’s a small compartment on the side of the spool to hold a handful of flies. You could just use this as a backup, but if you wanted, you could literally carry nothing more than a tenkara rod and this spool plus tippet, a few flies, and have everything you need for a full day out.
Here’s the official video from Tenkara USA showing the innovative features of the spool…
Whether you’re a hardcore traditional minimalist, a modern ultra-compact tenkara angler (or something in between), I think you’ll find this spool truly lives up to its name as a “keeper”.
If you build a better mousetrap…. minimalism to the ‘n’-th degree.
Looks very cool and I prob need at least 1 but the big question is – how much?
Where can I buy this?
Hey Paal, they’re not available until April, 2015. But you’ll be able to get them on the Tenkara USA website.
$12.00 estimated on TUSA blog. Available April
Very smart! Is there anything more creative than an angler with tangled line and a plan to make life better?
Looks like a trick from the Ayu fishers
First ‘Purple Cow’ of 2015?
Michael, I think so.
TUSA saved me so much tinkering time here looking for a solutions to problems I was finding in my own management. They also kept things very simple. I am almost mad because these are the kind of projects I tinker my time away with in the winter. Oh well… I guess I could always practice my great ballad of the tenkara fisherman on my ukulele.
Looking forward to giving this a real life test.
I still like my Yvon line keeper better, cost is 1 cent
Bob, what is the Yvon line keeper?
I was curious about the Yvon line keeper, too (just 9 years later) so I hunted it down. Basically it’s two paperclips bent like ez keepers and some electrical tape to hold it to the rod. https://sectionhiker.com/tenkara-ez-keeper-line-management-hack-using-paper-clips-and-electrical-tape/
Interesting. Thanks for sharing the link, Tim!
Cool line keeper indeed, I think that only one thing was overlooked and that is the ability to snap one to another like we do with our tippet spools. Definitely not a deal breaker but it is something that many people have asked for in the past. Another thing that would be helpful is a way to label the contents. Several holes with a corresponding line size next to it and a small, flush, push plug to fill the hole for that particular line size. Still this is a great new accessory, in line (see what I did there) with the minimalism concept
As always, great ideas JD! Love the snap-together and line ID ideas. I’m sure Daniel will take them into consideration for the Keeper 2.0 but it’s off to a great start.
Looks like my hair tie and tippet spool has met its match! Nice design.
Wow! Now that’s a must have two or three! Hats off to the designer…
truly an innovative piece from TUSA! These would be great to keep stowed in your car, by the front door, or anywhere you want to grab and go without carrying a sling pack. perfect for a bike ride or a walk to the pond.
I can’t wait to get a couple of these. They look sweet! I have a $50 TUSA gift cert from Christmas and I know what I want.
Daniel knocked it out of the park on this one. This will be the only thing i carry for 90% of all Tenkara trips. I would love to get my hands on one of these soon.
I have a Rhodo, I received the rod and the 9ft 9 length is pretty much useless the rod is very loose in this position. I contacted TUSA and they sent me another butt cap, which I tried explaining to them that this was not the problem, but what do I know. The design is flawed the mid position needs an O ring just like the 8ft 10 position. I have since come up with my own design that works great on a couple of other rods. I kinda feel like I should get back a third of my money because my as advertised 3 position rod works only as a 2 position zoom rod.
Hey Paul, haven’t heard of this problem before and mine is not like that. Maybe the problem is with the segment instead of the butt cap. Did you ask them to replace the whole rod?
Hey Jason, the problem was with the handle section, I called and they sent me a new handle and the first two sections. The rod is performing as it should now. TUSA is a stand up company and took care of me right away! They even sent a prepaid shipping label to return the defective handle. I will be owning more of their rods in the near future. Thanks for the help!
Can you tell me the diameter of this spool? I’m wondering if it’ll fit into the zippered rig I use. It doesn’t appear much larger than those other spools. Also still waiting and checking TUSA web site for it to appear in the store. It’s still for April release I guess.
Hey Colin, it’s 3″ in diameter. Sorry, I should have included specs in the post.
What is the diameter of the spool? I use a Patagonia liightweight vest that I Imagine Yvon C. had designed with tenkara in mind. The Meiho spools fit perfectly 2 per side (like an 8, not stacked) in the inner pockets. This looks about the same diameter but want to make sure thay’d fit.
Hey Jason, it’s 3″
Perfect, thanks!
I have similar spool from Daiwa, except fly storage hole and bought them in 2002 and still I use to keep line with hooks for trout and salmon, depend on season.
Cool Bazlur! Thanks for the picture. That looks like a nice spool.