Open cleats are a fishing rod trap

[CarlF]

Haha man, I dont feel like such an idiot anymore. Last year, I broke a high end Dobyns on my old boat cleat. My new Ranger came with flush locking cleats, so I actually really appreciate that little detail. 

[RenegadeBassin]

I haven't broken a rod on a cleat but one time I was pulling one of my teammate's rods out of his rod locker and the wind blew the lid shut and snapped the rod in half. You can bet I felt pretty bad about that....Luckily we won the tournament so I paid him for it with some of my winnings.

[Further North]

11 hours ago, RenegadeBassin said:

I haven't broken a rod on a cleat but one time I was pulling one of my teammate's rods out of his rod locker and the wind blew the lid shut and snapped the rod in half. You can bet I felt pretty bad about that....Luckily we won the tournament so I paid him for it with some of my winnings.

I've had the "same" rod broken three times now...all by other folks.

1. Friend tried to help put the rod in the back of the car after a day of fishing...ran it into the seat...snapped the tip off.
2. Friend's boat, rod in rod locker, he takes it out...but like your's rod locker closes on rod...
3. Same guy, my boat, two weeks later, a week after getting the replacement from St. Croix...I'm taking the rod out of the locker, he looses his balance falls on the rod locker lid...snap...I thought he was going to cry...

Gotta love St. Croix's Gold Star Service Plan...

[MickD]

Putting rods into the back of a car is really risky.  It helps to bundle them so that instead of one tip getting jammed, if you jam them, there might be more taking the load, so you sense the force and back off before breaking anything.

 

Here is a plan for you, Further North:  Have your fishing partner sit at the other end of the boat and play with his phone while YOU and YOU alone take the rods out and put them away.  :-)

[BassNJake]

On 12/7/2017 at 5:30 PM, MickD said:

If your boat has open cleats, then there is a significant probability, especially if fishing with kids and others not tuned in to the potential, that you will have a rod broken by its getting under the open cleat end and simply picked up.  Note the pictures.  I have such a boat, and could not find retractable cleats that would work on my boat, so I searched for another solution.  If you have some of the flexible polyurethane foam, about 1 inch thick, that comes as packing with electronics (I never throw it away-has so many uses), you have a solution.  It is light, clean, doesn't flake or quickly degrade, and snaps on and off in a wink.

 

Cut a piece of the foam out that can enclose the cleat and be about two inches longer than the cleat. Then cut out the center to allow it to be placed over the cleat.  Leave them off until on the water, storing them in a handy place, then before fishing, cover the cleats.  Piece of cake.

 

Note the photos, (note the image, not the title, I screwed up on titles)  and if you have questions, please ask.  This simple, free, solution can save you a broken rod.l

 

 

 

Thank you!!

I usually throw a frog but have a senko(reverse rigged) and a jig tied on to throw at laydowns and frog misses.

I've broken 2 rods when after a blowup I try to cast the senko at the frog miss.

It's always 1 specific cleat, so your solution will work quite well for me.

 

I was going to break out the duct tape, but I dont want to advertise that I have a masters in hillbilly engineering.

[detroit1]

I'm sorry.. if it's freezing up, i'm outta there. ( I don't fish tourneys)