Rod Holders

[jewfishrobby]

hi guys and girls,

has anybody had experience with those self locking rod holders im thinking about a set for my boat.

[chewsta]

Hi Robby,

If your talking about these holders (attached) they are pretty good for baitfishing

as they get your rods horizontal to the water so the rods arent in a highstick position when a bait is taken.

BUT Ive had a few break unexpectedly fishing for Kings from the force of a bait being hit.

Even small kings can eventually break them quite easily after a bit of wear and tear.

So tie your rods off to the boat aswell.

They also tend to spin if mounted on a grabrail no matter how tight you do them up.

So if your thinking of using them for kings, just be careful.

every other type of fishing Ive used them for, Ive had no problems though.

They are a great idea though and easy to use,

if only they were made from something a little stronger than plastic.

Cheers mate

Allen

[olitay]

Hi mate, i bought some from ebay a while back and the stainless on them rusted very quickly, be careful of cheapo models. I have since a pair from BIAS http://www.biasboating.com.au/p-1413-snap-...rod-holder.aspx these are really good quality and pretty sturdy.... however i would not use them for king fishing..... not worth the risk!

Edited November 20, 2008 by olitay

[Josh88]

Hey mate,

The plastic ones can be pretty dodgy and very expensive when fishing for kings-with damage and lost gear, some have lost Stellas.

We have rail mounted stainless steel ones and once they are tightened then i can hang off them and they won't move which is 80kg of weight so i reckon they are very good but the screw that connects them to the clamp comes a bit loose when your driving the boat in choppy conditions which means you just have to tighten them before you go back out again.

Not sure of the brand but they were ordered as extras by our dealer when everything was getting fitted on our boat. Might be an idea to talk to your dealer about it or just have a flick through some of the catalogues like BIAS and other boating shops, they have very similar ones which should do the job well.

Or you can get them welded onto the rails and the most certainly will not move.

Cheers

Josh

[jewgaffer]

Hi jewfishrobby Have a thought about getting s/s rod holders. My rod holders in the pic are U.S Tommy Marine rail mounts now made in China to the U.S. specs and are now available over here at around $37.00 each.

Cheers

jewgaffer

[Josh88]

Hi jewfishrobby Have a thought about getting s/s rod holders. My rod holders in the pic are U.S Tommy Marine rail mounts now made in China to the U.S. specs and are now available over here at around $37.00 each.

Cheers

jewgaffer

Those are pretty much the same as what i was talking about, ours just have a slightly different top and we mount them at about 30-45*(degrees)

[Kiwi Dan]

Hi jewfishrobby Have a thought about getting s/s rod holders. My rod holders in the pic are U.S Tommy Marine rail mounts now made in China to the U.S. specs and are now available over here at around $37.00 each.

Cheers

jewgaffer

Hello mate,

do these rod holders spin when you get a big hit?

I was going to get some of these and mount them on a vertical rail on the side of my boat. I have stainless ones at the moment which i tighten but they still spin unfortunately.

[jewgaffer]

Dan I use very tight drag on everything except large livies and larger live green eye squid. I have valuable rods and reels that I have to look after and these rod holders are as solid as a rock and absolutely unmovable once the nuts are tightened up. Road vibration doesn't affect them either.

They are designed to be adjusted to 360 degrees by using an Allen Key and notice the closeness of the teeth in the pic, that's for fine tuning the rod spread and adjusting to keep the lines separate in wind etc.

I gave mine a final adjustment (a once off only tweek up of rod holder angle and direction is all that's needed) with rods out on the water, making sure that the lines on all rods were kept separated and even having no wind bloom-out of a line over the tip of the rod next to it. That includes lining up the eight rail mounts with my two downrigger rod holders which are built into the gunnels facing 45 degrees out from the corner of the stern and another two solid rod holders that are welded to the inside of my gunnels to allow my two ten foot long cast rods to face back over the seven footers facing out from the stern that are on double welded rod holders on the solid uprights supporting my bait board.

If I had the chance to buy any other rod holders on the market without paying I would lay my money out and buy these same rail mount rod holders all over again.

Cheers

jewgaffer

Edited November 21, 2008 by jewgaffer

[Kiwi Dan]

Dan I use very tight drag on everything except large livies and larger live green eye squid. I have valuable rods and reels that I have to look after and these rod holders are as solid as a rock and absolutely unmovable once the nuts are tightened up. Road vibration doesn't affect them either.

They are designed to be adjusted to 360 degrees by using an Allen Key and notice the closeness of the teeth in the pic, that's for fine tuning the rod spread and adjusting to keep the lines separate in wind etc.

I gave mine a final adjustment (a once off only tweek up of rod holder angle and direction is all that's needed) with rods out on the water, making sure that the lines on all rods were kept separated and even having no wind bloom-out of a line over the tip of the rod next to it. That includes lining up the eight rail mounts with my two downrigger rod holders which are built into the gunnels facing 45 degrees out from the corner of the stern and another two solid rod holders that are welded to the inside of my gunnels to allow my two ten foot long cast rods to face back over the seven footers facing out from the stern that are on double welded rod holders on the solid uprights supporting my bait board.

If I had the chance to buy any other rod holders on the market without paying I would lay my money out and buy these same rail mount rod holders all over again.

Cheers

jewgaffer

Hello,

So do you have your rods straight up in the holders as they are shown in the pic or do you adjust them to fish out the back only?

I want the rod holders to be point out at roughly a 45 degree angle to the sides of the boat.

Edited November 21, 2008 by Kiwi Dan

[jewgaffer]

Hello,

So do you have your rods straight up in the holders as they are shown in the pic or do you adjust them to fish out the back only?

I want the rod holders to be point out at roughly a 45 degree angle to the sides of the boat.

Dan all rod holders must be angled. You could break a rod on a good fish if it's held vertical. You're not giving the guides a chance to share the load in unison and trigger off the drag, particularly with the reel always in gear on the very tight drag that I use.

Leaving a rod alone and letting it bend hard before taking up any slack which is rarely there anyway, and taking my time to lift the rod has always given me my best hook up rate .

Having any rod straight up and down in a rod holder and holding a rod vertical is a bad habit even when playing a decent size fish off the beach.

A small degree of angle on one rod over another makes a big difference to the direction outwards of each rod and keeps the line below the line next to it. All my rod holders are angled slightly higher than one another all the way down the gunnels to keep the lines apart in currents and even when trolling or drifting just the one separate rod when the downriggers are out.

Notice the angle of my bow rod holders in the pic. The bow rails are much higher than the rear gunnel rails and all my rod holders are positioned so that the lines which drift towards the stern in the current are all separated. All lines bloom out towards the stern in a current although the right weighted sinkers stay where they are cast.

I often cover the front of the bow area and cast one rod into the current and retrieve before the line goes under the bow, and I cast the set rods at the bow end over my shoulder back to towards the bow and by proper one off adjustment of the rod holder angles the line bloom out always finishes up wide of the stern area lines.

Cheers

jewgaffer

[numbnuts]

If you are having trouble with them spinning on a big hit then just screw a stainless self tapper into the rail as a stopper.