This Summer, I received a parcel from New Zealand. Within this package there was the Smith Creek Rod Clip as well as the Smith Creek Trash Fish. The latter, I will review now.
The Smith Creek Rod Clip Specifications
Anodized marine grade aluminium
Green colour
UV resistant materials
10 grams (measured by myself)
79 x 24 x 7 mm (measured by myself)
Website: www.smithcreek.co
Performance of the Smith Creek Trash Fish
The Smith Creek Trash Fish is a tiny gadget, which holds your spent line. The weight is only 10 grams and therefore is extremely lightweight. It consists of an anodized aluminium plate, which is at one side doubled and has foam in between. This foam enables the Smith Creek to attach waste line by wrangling around the plate and pulling it into the foam.
I put the Smith Creek Trash Fish onto a string of my backpack by using a zinger retractor. Thus, the waste line holder is instantly at hand when needed. Moreover, it does not get in the way while fly fishing. It is very convenient to use owing to the straight forward handling. Furthermore, I like the stylish metallic green look of this tool. Still, it is not shiny that I am worried about being seen by trout to easily due to unnecessary light reflections.
Like most anglers, I am concerned about our environment and only want to leave footprints behind. Subsequently, I always carry a bag for rubbish with me. This bag usually is in my backpack and not momentarily at hands. Yet, I often change my fly fishing rig to adapt to the circumstances. Be it to switch from a dry fly to a nymph or just to extend my leader. While tying on tippet or replace the rig, I have to cut tippet at some point. Usually, anglers just re-stuff spent leaders and tippets into their pocket, where it falls out as soon as they pull something out of this pocket.
“I see way to much fishing line on the riverbank and I got so tired of re-stuffing spent leaders and tippets back into my vest pocket that I finally designed a tool to make them stay put. The Trash Fish is simple, slim and fits in my pocket. It’s great having a eco and user friendly tool that people love.” – Wayne Smith (Smith Creek)
The other option is to just drop leftovers of the tippet into the wader – assumed you wear them. This usually keeps the tippet in place until you come home. However, this option makes it necessary to clean your waders now and then from this waste. Hence, it is not very practical. Far more convenient is the Smith Creek Trash Fish. Just coil and control your waste line with this tool. You do not have to worry about accidentally dropping any spent line.
The only downside of the Smith Creek Trash Fish I experienced, was with minute tippet pieces. The Trash Fish is very handy with larger pieces, which can be coiled at least once around two fingers. If the piece of tippet is smaller than this, it gets complicated to attach it between the foam pad.
The best result I achieved by holding the tiny piece of tippet between thumb and trash fish pad and then pull the other end under the foam pad. In this way, it is possible that the Smith Creek Trash Fish even holds small pieces of waste line. However, larger pieces can be attached to the Trash Fish more easily.
Summary about the Smith Creek Trash Fish
Pro
Small
Lightweight
Helps to keep our environment clean
Stylish colour
Holds tippet waste securely
Suitable for almost all sizes of line
Easy to use
Eco friendly packaging
Contra
Difficult to use with small pieces of line
Two hands needed (Use the Smith Creek Rod Clip to hold your rod!)
The Smith Creek Trash Fish is an indispensable gadget for every fisherman who is aware of his environment. It is small, lightweight and easy to use. The only limitation to this tool is the minor complicacy of attaching tiny pieces of tippet material, which occurs for instance when cutting the remaining line at a knot. However, this downside is negligible in contrast to the huge advantages concerning environment and ease of use. Therefore, Smith Creek succeeded again to invent a great gadget which totally complies to their motto:
“uncompromising fishing gear”
The price of this item is currently CHF 20.90 in Switzerland and can be purchased here.
Have you used the Smith Creek Rod Clip? What is you experience? Do you have any questions?
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