Fishing Rod Holder

I've been messing around with a shore rod holder for some time. You've all seen those cheap aluminum ones that stick in the ground. Actually that's what I have. There are also the wire kind that stick in the ground, both short and tall like the one below.

Tall Rod Holder

I prefer to have my rods close to the ground because of the wind factor that shows up so often at the lakes. Blows the line all over the place. Thought number one is something like a tripod that can cradle the rod. Enter the Gorilla Pod. 

Gorilla Pod

Good idea with a little metal half loop screwed to the top. Only problem is that it was too low. I can still use it to hold the camera. 

The picture below is the clay that is on the shore at Lake Camanche. Lake Amador is shale and impossible to stick anything in. I've tried to pound a 12 inch nail into the clay with a hammer and all I could get was about 2 inches of it in the ground. That stuff is hard.

 

After thinking about it for a while, I came up with something made out of PVC pipe. Today I ran out to Camanche to give it a try. Sunshine up the hill when I left. A little different at the lake.

You can see the set up with chair, rod holders, and rods. Below is a closer look at the rod holder. It's made out of 3/4 PVC with caps on all the ends to prevent collection of unwanted sand.

It keeps the reel off the ground and available to wind in a little line as needed to keep it fairly tight. Now, the only thing left is to try it when a fish bites, because none bit today. I know it's not perfectly symetrical, but hey, it does the job. Besides, I slapped it together in 15 minutes with parts I had in the shop. If you wanted one that held two rods all you would have to do is make the top U wider. I chose two, one on each side of the chair. Now that I know they work, all I have to do is put a little paint on it, to jazz it up some.

That's it until next time.