Helpful Hints
Lose Anything?
by Kent Hull
Helpful Hints
Lose Anything?
by Kent Hull
Ever lose anything from your vest? You know - forgot to zip the pocket and it was pulled out walking through brush, you took a fall and it fell out or it fell out while you took your vest off, wind took it while you were getting it out, or maybe you just put it down and forgot it. I think I've lost each article in my vest that wasn't tied in or hooked on.
First, I tried zingers - those little buttons with a retractable cord. The good ones are pricey, they all break (cheap ones early, expensive ones a little later), the pin-on ends stick you, stuff gets caught on them, and the pin-on clasps come undone. I must have a dozen of them that I no longer use.
What works best for me is lightweight round elastic, in black, about 1/16 inch diameter. I think it comes in 5 yard packages at any store that sells notions (buttons, snaps, hooks, pins, zippers, etc.). Just make a big loop (use 1 1/2 to 3 feet of cord, tie the ends with a surgeon's knot) and hook it to an item from your vest. Hook the other end to something inside the pocket where you stow it. I get small plastic rings (about 3/8 inch diameter) at Beverly's and sew one side into the inside of a pocket for each article in my vest. Hook the article on by pushing the smooth end of the loop through a hole or loop on the article (finger loop of forceps, hole in the corner of a fly box, etc,) and pull enough of the loop through to go around the outside of the article; pull the other end of the loop back to snug the knot. Feed the other (surgeon's knotted) end through the ring in your vest pocket, feed the article through the knotted end of the loop and pull tight. It's easy to hook and unhook, you can tell when it's time to replace the elastic when it starts to break down, and it WORKS.
I use black elastic because white is a little bright on-stream. I started with safety pins inside my vest, but they pull open at just the wrong time. I then used split rings threaded through holes I poked in the vest. The cord catches and works free through the split and may tear the fabric inside your expensive vest. If you can tie a fly (or even a tippet knot), you can probably sew two dozen rings into a fly vest in an hour. Just take ten to 15 loops around the ring and through about 1/8 inch of the fabric. To tie off, take two turns of the needle around the other end of the thread, pull tight, then take one turn of the needle around the other end in the opposite direction, tighten and cut.
Total cost (assuming you have to buy everything including the needle and thread) will be under $5.00.