I find the rod leash invaluable. I lost a nice rod out of a boat when I was 15 and ever since then have had a rod leash when in a boat(31 now). I was letting my flyline trail behind the canoe while I picked a new fly and a fish bit! It pulled the rod from under my arm and dragged the rod to the bottom. Hard lesson to learn for my first nice flyrod(Sage), after that had to use Shakespear fiberglass KMart rig till I saved up enough money for a new rod. Not that it was a bad rod(fiberglass) but cast like a Mack truck. After that I bought a rod leash, and it has never happened again. Maybe this is one of those lesson we all have to learn. A summer of mowing lawns to buy another rod taught me well. I have had several rod leashs and also had trouble with it messing up the proformance of my reel. A way I overcame this was to cut down the width of the velcro strap to about 1/4 inch and wrap it around the reel seat. The other end I attach to my boat, so if I fall in the rod leash won't tangle me up. This has worked for a while. There is one thing the Army has taught me is the value what we call a "dummy cord" for sensitive equipment.
Sarge.