I first tied a 4’ piece of backing material to the thermometer with a swivel snap. I then clipped it to one of the D rings on my vest. If it is hanging in the water it is OK but still could get in the way.
Anyhow, I just don’t like my set up and wanted to know how you have it rigged, how you deploy it and then how you store the thing. I know it might seem trivial, but there has to be a better way and I don’t think that I need to recreate the wheel.
Rick
I keep mine inside a pocket. much easier / quicker to control the cord.
I use a piece of netmaking twine attached to the thermometer. I guess it’s about a couple of feet long. I put a duolock snap on the free end and clip this onto the zipper pull of my vest. The twine is long enough for the thermometer to reach the water in typical wading conditions with the zipper pull all the way down. When I’m done I just wrap the twine around the thermometer body and stick it in the thermometer pocket on the inside of my vest. The zipper pull rides up to the top to bring it near the pocket. It’s a simple system. It works and I don’t have to worry about losing the thermometer - it’s always secured to the vest.
i finally bit the bullet and got a zinger. the thermometer lives in an inside pocket with the zinger pinned to the top of the pocket, and when i need it i pull it out and use it. when i put it away, it is completely out of the way. it was cheaper to buy a zinger than a third new thermometer.
I don’t. Haven’t used one in 35 years.
Colston, you might find that taking temps and keeping a log is not only productive but fun. It gives you another toy to play with streamside 
I like the idea of a zinger, but I like to keep the thermometer in the water and check it from time to time as I fish. On hot summer days, I find it very helpful to find locations of springs where the cooler water is and the fish hold. In the spring it is nice to see the correlation between fish activity and water temps.
The pocket idea, also seems like a good way to go. I’ll have to find a better spot for it than my current location. Thanks for some ideas guys.
Rick
Clay,
I have a cheapo(actually it was a freebie used for advertisement) thermometer that I got from a pharmacy rep. when I was working at a hospital. It’s only about the size of a matchbook. Anyway, I used some transparent packing tape and taped it about 4 inches from the bottom of my wading staff. It’s been there for about 15 years. Not the best thermometer by any means but it gives an accurate temperature.
Deezel
I finally found a place for my stream thermometer. Inside of my vest there is a spot to store a bottle of floatant with an elastic strap. I have the string attached so that I can just pull it out of the strap and drop it in the water without hooking it up and then unhooking it to put it away. Thanks for all of the suggestions.
For years I stored it in an inside vest pocket with about 10ft of old running line attached to it so I could get it out into the stream if I were just stopping to check the water temperature without getting into the water. This was generally ok, but a littlle bit of a pain wrapping up the 10ft of line after each use.
This year I have gone hi-tech and bought one of those instant infrared thermometers. Just point and shoot for an instant digital temp.
Love it thus far.
Max, last year I used an MT6 like this one: http://www.instrumart.com/Product.aspx?ProductID=10108
Then I waded too deeply and tosted it in the water. An expensive mistake. I had that IR thermometer for another hobby and used it for fishing. This year I just bought a Fishpond one. A little more indestructible.