zski, The Berkley Quick-Set can hold any fresh water fish out there. It's not like you're going to fight the fish with the rod holder. The drag will slip and you'll pick up the rod and go to it. It comes with several different attachments for mounting it, one clamps around an aluminum thwart nicely. It's around $20 and you can move it to other boats if you want. No holes to drill, nothing to fabricate yourself.

SD/OS

I have the aluminum rod holder you use and found it cumbersome to change the angle of my rod easily. Isn't an Allen wrench required to loosen the plate?

I used the one you speak of for quite a while (I still have it.....want it?) and compared to what I am using now I don't think they compare to be honest.

Now I'm throwing off on SD's rod holder.........they will kick me out of here before it is all over.........

xcskibum1 wrote on Mar 21^st, 2012 at 3:52pm:


My favorite rod holder are my legs.  I pinch the rod under one hamstring and over the other quad, and I can paddle for hours.  No worries about another gadget to portage, or about how quick your response time is (instantaneous), and no cost involved.  It's old fashioned, but it works wonderfully.

prouboy

This works for me:
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I'm not in the bow very often though. I will always remember one bow paddler who would instantly let go of his paddle at the slightest tap.

No matter where you put it you gotta understand how your drag works and make very everything is able to move freely. Except your rod and reel of course.

SD........I'm sure I have the same one. Want it? Its yours for the asking. Perhaps I lost (or broke) that center thumb screw that clamps the plate and replaced it with an allen headed screw.......I can't remember. Anyway I always felt a little vulnerable to losing my rod with that holder unless I kept my rod at a right angle to my boat.

As for you leg holders all I can do is roll my eyes. What a royal pain in the rear (literally after about 2 hours). What are you thinking? Life has enough hassles.

(speaking of pains in the rear  ) I will give another advantage of the rod holder i advocate and I have tried a great many.......

Not only does the additional height off the gunnel allow for you to have your rod higher for easier paddling it also allows for you to have your rod a little closer to you as well. Less reaching. But here is one the aspects I like best. If I so desire......I can have my rod tip pointed rearward and down. And I can do this with complete confidence of not having my rod "shoot" out of the holder should everything line up due to the safety clip. Some would argue you can do the same with any rod holder but that is not the case. In a regular rod holder having the attitude of the rod rearward invariably puts the rod close to the boat and starts to interfere with paddling.........besides I like the angle achieved with the 2000 because it sits higher.

Now a good question to ask is "why does any of this matter". Fair enough. First off, as I have already intimated, it is out of the way. Your tired, dehydrated, etc and the last thing that is desired is hassle with a fishing rod (fishing has enough hassles involved without adding more  ). Secondly, why the rearward angle? Why not straight out the side? I want my set up to be like a coil spring trap. There is no major bend of the rod required before everything gets tight and thus pressure to hook is immediate. In other words the rod is not absorbing a lot of energy......it is transferred to the hooks almost immediately. Db's point about understanding your reels drag is very important with my style. To loose and no hookset, to tight and Bye-bye lure. Smaller sharper hooks require less energy to set than thicker wire hooks.......physics.

That is not to say you point the rod right at the lure. In fact my third point concerning the effectiveness (and less hassle) of rod holders is in being able to "read" your rod tip. When everything is tight a certain pattern develops concerning the vibration with your lure which is revealed through the rod tip. I can tell a great deal about how my lure is doing by observing. "Hmmmm........ looks like I picked up a leaf, or a tiny bit of weed.....something is different".