Does anyone use the clamp on rod holders on their canoes for fishing? If so how do you like them and do they get in the way while paddling?
I’ve never seen a clamp on for a canoe
worth having other than maybe a Tite Lok and those get expensive by the time you buy all the parts individually. I made a bar out of a 1X6 and a 1X2, one on each side. It fits the width of the canoe and clamps to the gunnels with bolts and wing nuts. The 6" board is the deck for my two Scotties and my depth finder. Works quite well. I also have a milk crate that sits behind me.
It has 6 PVC rod holders cable tied to the crate and another piece of PVC centered directly behind me that holds my landing net. Two of the PVC pipes angle out in a V to the water, the other’s are pointed back. Usually, I carry 4-6 rods. The two PVC holders set in the V are for when I still fish with bait or drift fish. The others are carriers.
I’ve got a couple different designs
I’m not impressed by any of them.
- Big D
Big D…
Why is that? Do they not work properly or are they just a hassle to work with? I have seen them and always wanted to try one for my canoe but wanted to get feedback on those that have used them first before dumping money on them.
Does anyone have any pics of a setup they use for a rod holder???
Most are weak and fall apart
Those that work are expensive. Here are two that work:
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat21276-cat21300&id=0001487012180a&navCount=5&podId=0001487&parentId=cat21300&masterpathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=IJ&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat21300&hasJS=true
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat21276-cat21300&id=0001441012179a&navCount=9&podId=0001441&parentId=cat21300&masterpathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=IJ&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat21300&hasJS=true
The probably work best on metal gunnels, O.K. on vinyl, less well on wood. The Down East rod holder is very heavy construction.
Driftmaster makes a clamp for its rod holders that may work, but I’m not familiar with that brand, its not popular around here…maybe it has to do with salt corrosion. Driftmaster is similar to Tite-Lok in that its a metal rod bent to hold your fishing rod.
actually…
these are the ones I was looking at: http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/pod/standard-pod.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/pod-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat21276-cat21300-cat21300_TGP&rid=&indexId=cat21300&navAction=push&masterpathid=&navCount=2&parentType=index&parentId=cat21300&id=0017714
Just need something simple to hold a rod while panfishing while I am helping out our kids with their fishing.
The question is whether they will fit
the gunnel or over the thwart. For light pan fishing, they should do the job. As we don’t have a Cabela’s in Houston, I’ve not seen them. Scotty also makes a clamp mount, though I’ve not seen it either.
bad design
The clamp doesn’t fit entirely over the lip of the gunwale, so you’ve got the pad on the clamp attempting to clamp down on materials that are not level, which gives an awkward angle to the rod holder and makes it so that the rodholder can rotate and fall off under stress - like the stress created by the weight of a rod placed in the holder.
- Big D
Clamp on Rod Holders
Those clamp on ones are no good for us in the Deep South. When we used them the clamp slipped and bent. The clamp does not hold.
The Drift master was much stronger because the clamp was not used. It was bolted down thru a beam. However, the fishing we do is saltwater in the Florida Bay and in the Mosquito Lagoon and usually are fishing with the older Shimano 500S reels with 15- 20 lbs line or a 750 Pen Spinner on an Ugly stick with 30 lb braid. We used four driftmaster type rod holders bolted into a 1 ½” square beam that is attached to the gunnels of my 16’Mohawk fiberglass canoe. Some of the fish drag us around…nothing little on the reels or the rods, maybe that is why the clamp units did not work.
Driftmaster® Lean Mean Rod Holder
$11.99
Clamp on rod holders
– Last Updated: Jun-10-11 2:25 PM EST –
The Cabela's one looks good.
Here's the setup I use: http://www.loonislandoutdoors.com/Fishing/CanoeRodHolders.php
I use a similar set up with Scotty
holders. For now, I have two holders mounted on my board, but I’m about to build a work deck for my canoe that will include 4 Scotty’s, my depth finder, and my tackle boxes. I’ll also have an area to cut up my bait.
The board clamp system is one I have used with my canoes and kayaks. It works well.
Rod holders
Check out the Bee ready rod holders
rod holder
Ok…I bought a Scotty Fly fishing with side mount for mounting on inside of vinyl gunwale. I could only use 2 screws since it’s only 1" wide but it seems to hold. Will add cheap bass pro clamp mounts for now.