No matter what type of angler you are there is one piece of equipment that we will all use at one point or another. If you travel around with your rods pre-assembled and leave your leads attached, a good quality, well padded Rod Band with secure reliable fastenings is essential. I have had serious issues with massed produced rod bands that offering minimal protection to the blank when in transit. These Rod Bands imported from Asia more often than not allowed the lead to bounce around and damage the blank, leaving permanent scratches or even cracks on the rod, which is simply not good enough.
Without question, The most functional Rod Bands we have had arrive in the UKMA office over the past couple of years by a space mile are the Aquarius Lead Rod Bands from Halesowen based luggage manufacturers Cotswold Aquarius. They offer a well padded lead compartment that has a full length Velcro fastening down one edge to allow easy location and securing of your lead when in transit. Once the lead is in the padded compartment you have a 160mm long Bands that are machine stitched in place at either end. These straps are made from high quality Velcro that once fastened you physically need to pull the tag end to make the straps release there secure hold on your rods.
The above component of the Aquarius Lead Rod Bands is designed to secure your rig to the upper part of the butt and top sections and keep these sections and your rig together. You then have the second and smaller Band, that is made up of 160mm of high quality Velcro that is attached to a plastic buckle at one end, theother end is then threaded through the buckle and pulled back to tensioned around the bottom of the two rod sections to eliminate any potentialmovement. When both straps are in place, play around with the tension to ensure there is minimal movement, basically secure the rod sections together, and don’t strangle them!!
TOP TIP – ensure that the Rod Bands are not over tightened as this could lead to possible bending of the rod if left Banded together for long periods of time.
Final Thoughts
The Aquarius Lead Rod Bands are a very basic idea that has been manufactured to the best British Standards. The Materials used and design have been are well thought out and none of the Rod Bands function are lacking in performance, in fact they do the job perfectly. You can pick up the Aquarius Lead Rod Bands from £6.50 each and if like me you like to take care of your tackle, these super Rod Bands from Cotswold Aquarius will soon become a permanent fixture on your rods as well. Yet another superb product from arguably the best Luggage range manufactured in the United Kingdom.
