Fishing Rod Part Question

[Haris122]

My parents and sister got me some fishing stuff for my birthday, and needless to say i wound up with what to me, is a pretty nice medium action fishing rod, with spinning reel (kind of ironic seeing how I'm currently even making my $20 rod and spincast reel combo look like good equipment being wasted on a horrible angler but that's another story). Anyways, as we speak I'm about to spool some line on it, and I've been wondering what exactly is the purpose of the small wire loop/hook just a little upwards on the rod of where the reel is. I know my cheap rod doesn't have it, but I've seen it before on other slightly more expensive rods, and I always assumed it was there to just hang your hook onto, and then reel in remaining slack line, so the hook doesn't just swing around and hook into stuff while you're carrying it to and from a fishing site, but it seems redundant seeing how you can just use the regular guides for that as well. So, might be a dumb question, but what exactly is it for?

[Clayton Bass]

That's exactly what it is. Called a hook keeper.

[Al Agnew]

Not only is that what it's for, but there are good reasons for using it rather than the guides. One, hanging a hook on a guide runs the risk of damaging the guide ring. Two, the guide ring is bigger and thus a less secure place to hang a lure; the lure is more likely to come loose. Third, with the lure that close to your carrying hand rather than on any of the guides, it's easier to control it and keep it out of brush or other things that could it could snag. When I'm carrying a rod with lure attached, I put the lure on the hook keeper and then wrap the line running from the lure to the rod tip around the biggest guide a couple of times, which keeps the lure more snugly on the hook keeper and keeps that line from being likely to get snagged on something.

[Haris122]

Cool. Thanks guys.