My new Gaff

I have been to just about every tackle store I could reach on lunch breaks around san jose this last few weeks looking for equipment, but never really found a gaff that I liked.  So I went to FW and got a gaff hook, and found a rattan escrima stick I had from when I used to practice the martial art.  Brought these over to my friends house where he actually took the project on himself, with a couple of beers as payment, and using his skill saw we hollowed out a grove to fit the gaff hook into.  Using a wood chisel we finished the groove off, drilled a hole for the tang to fit in, and pressed it into place.  The gaff hook felt fairly secure in the groove we made, so I didn't feel the need to finish it off with glue, just wrapped it up in electrical tape.  My buddy then had the idea to take double thick electrical tape to use for the handle to give it some grip. 

We then finished it off with some 3/16 tubing to make a safety cover for the hook, zip-tied on.  In the end, i'm fairly happy with it, fell like its a little shorter than normal, but from a kayak it seems to be about right to me.  I should create a loop to help keep it from falling overboard, which another friend suggested using a thin strip of leather that could probably break away should I hook into something that is going to pull me overboard.  We lifted 40# weights with no flexing issues or anything.  For the hook, it was 5$, and my friend's electrical tape cost me 3 bucks to replace.  But I did have the rattan already.  So for 8$ here is my new gaff.