The Line Starts Here

iBASS360 Founder, Rob Zorn, attended iCAST2018 and had the opportunity to meet many industry giants and see a lot of new products.

There I was, in the heart of what’s new in the industry- iCAST . As I made my way through the massive Orlando Convention Center, I came across a product that instantly struck me as a real game changer- the Rod Threading Device- RTD- something I consider to be the greatest simple invention sure to leave you kicking yourself that you didn’t think of it. It looks slick, and after using it, I can tell you it flat out works! The brain child of Erupt Fishing, the RTD is what every angler who has ever struggled to string a rod on the water, in the wind, or in low light conditions is looking for.

It started with a concept from owner Patrick Marchese while he was trying to rig a rod in

low light. You might say a bright light went on in his head. "There simply had to be a better way to get line on a rod" said Marchese, tired of his own struggling moments with the process. " Rigging is time consuming and not much fun.” His goal became to develop a product that anybody could easily use it.

After three years of developing numerous prototypes, Marchese's product is ready for introduction at iCAST2018, touted by some big names in the industry- Elite Pro Kelly Jordan, and everyone’s favorite tournament personality and Facts of Fishing host, Dave Mercer. As they demonstrated the simplicity and functionality of the design, those of us witnessing found it to be nothing short of brilliant.

"When Pat showed me the RTD, my first thought was how much faster I could re-spool and rig my rods," said Jordon. "The more I thought about it, the more obvious the

benefits for any serious angler who keeps multiple rods rigged on a boat deck or even for a youth event organizer or parent who are always rigging rods”. Jordan loved the idea so much, he is now a partner in Erupt. So is Mercer. "My first reaction was, 'I don't need it because that's what I do with my fingers’ ”, Mercer said. "A few days later, while rigging several rods, I kept thinking about RTD and how efficiently it did what I was doing. I called Pat and admitted he was right-on with this cool new tool."

Erupt has patented the RTD Rod Threading Device as the first mechanical tool designed to feed line quickly and effortlessly through fishing rod guides- a task many consider to

be one of the sport's most frustrating processes. The design sets out to resolve the common headaches associated with feeding line through the rod guides. The patented technology incorporates a bobbin to carry line through the rod guides while spring-loaded arms allow one-way advancement without dropping the line.

Most anglers know well the irritation and time wasted mistakenly running line through the guide's frame, missing a guide or dropping the line during threading and watching it back out of every guide just strung. RTD helps overcome these and other rigging

mishaps, including those influenced by foul weather, an angler's poor dexterity or hampered vision. The unit's patented technology relies only on hand power to advance the device along the length of the rod. The line attaches to the RTD's innovative bobbin with just a tug, not a knot. A guiding module provides a self-centering alignment over each guide, feeding the bobbin with line attached through each one along the way thereby eliminating the risk of an error in threading.

RTD works with most traditional casting and spinning rod guides used for freshwater and inshore fishing, threading even the longest of rods in seconds. The clear-faced module "guides" the RTD over rod guides so that its bobbin self-centers along the way. Model RTD-P has a viewing window to observe the threading process. Each RTD comes with two clear "guiding" modules of differing channel widths that can be easily interchanged. The rod's largest guide determines which module to use. A spare bobbin

is also included in each package.

The RTD will be available this fall, just in time for holiday stocking stuffing. Model RTD-P will be the first on the market, featuring high-impact molded plastic construction and a transparent window for viewing the rigging operation. An aluminum model will follow with additional features. Fast and easy to use, RTD works with most rod types, including bass, walleye, crappie and fly rods. The unit's compact size fits easily into tackle box trays. MSRP is $39.99. You can see it in action at https://www.ibass360.com/fishing-articles/icast-2018-rtd-rod-threading-device or at www.eruptfishing.com