There’s a long running joke in tenkara about losing your rod plug or end cap. Most rod plugs are either black or wood colored making them the perfect chameleon when dropped on the forest floor or river bank. And it’s not always easy to find a replacement. But Minimalist Gear Co. has come up with a (literally) brilliant solution.
Good luck trying to find this in a pile of autumn leaves …
Ah, that’s better …
It’s a brightly colored thermoplastic urethane cap that slides over your existing rod plug to make it hi-vis and easy to recover if dropped.
They come in 3 sizes and are flexible so they’ll fit pretty much any rod. And the color coding will help you identify which plug goes with which rod.
As a bonus, there’s a hole in the top that allows you to attach your rod plug to a D-ring, daisy chain, or other point of attachment for safekeeping. You can also attach a loop of backup lilian.
This is a simple but effective solution to the age-old problem of losing your rod plug. Consider them a beacon for a man down. Get them here.
I replace the dark colored cord in the end caps of my rods with hot pink contractors chalk line. One morning while fishing my favorite honryu river I dropped the plug and would have never found it again if not for the bright cord.