There's a lot of reflective tapes out there, but most of them are pretty stiff. It's really tough to get them to wrap around a rod and stay on. While I was looking at different types of tape I discovered these:
As you can probably guess, they're intended for bicyclists to wrap their spokes. I paid $15 at REI, but you can get them slightly cheaper online. It's basically 3M Scotchlite reflective film precut into 1" x 1/2" rectangles. You get 75 of the rectangles plus about a dozen dots of various sizes.
I was able to do three 7' rods with wraps above and below each guide and I haven't even used half the rectangles. One of the rods is a light action, and the stickers had no effect on the weight or flex of the rod. I'm sure they would work equally well on ultralights. If your rods are skinny, you can even cut the stickers as you wrap them on and do more than one wrap per sticker. I put some of the dots on my reel handles. Since this is a contact point, they may not hold up but they were basically a bonus anyway.
They light up really bright even with just a hat light. Since they're made for bicycle spokes, they're waterproof and made for all kinds of weather. Some of the reviewers I've read said the stickers have stayed on their bikes for over a year.
Some pictures of the stickers on bikes:
Video showing them in action and how to install (on a bike, but the rods were similar):
[video=youtube]
I put mine on the long way because I wanted uniformity and most of the rods were 1" in circumference at the first guide. I took some pictures of the rods, but my smartphone camera isn't that good at night shots. I'll try to get some pics with a friend's camera when we go out fishing again.
Seriously, if you night fish check these out.
As you can probably guess, they're intended for bicyclists to wrap their spokes. I paid $15 at REI, but you can get them slightly cheaper online. It's basically 3M Scotchlite reflective film precut into 1" x 1/2" rectangles. You get 75 of the rectangles plus about a dozen dots of various sizes.
I was able to do three 7' rods with wraps above and below each guide and I haven't even used half the rectangles. One of the rods is a light action, and the stickers had no effect on the weight or flex of the rod. I'm sure they would work equally well on ultralights. If your rods are skinny, you can even cut the stickers as you wrap them on and do more than one wrap per sticker. I put some of the dots on my reel handles. Since this is a contact point, they may not hold up but they were basically a bonus anyway.
They light up really bright even with just a hat light. Since they're made for bicycle spokes, they're waterproof and made for all kinds of weather. Some of the reviewers I've read said the stickers have stayed on their bikes for over a year.
Some pictures of the stickers on bikes:
Video showing them in action and how to install (on a bike, but the rods were similar):
[video=youtube]
I put mine on the long way because I wanted uniformity and most of the rods were 1" in circumference at the first guide. I took some pictures of the rods, but my smartphone camera isn't that good at night shots. I'll try to get some pics with a friend's camera when we go out fishing again.
Seriously, if you night fish check these out.