Fishing Pole Carrier or Holder

[Greg In Austin]

So as we get the SMB all figured out we have learned where items can be stored and where they will ride....

BUT

...we have not figured out how best to carry fishing poles yet.

So we are looking for ideas on how to store or carry non-tellescoping fishing poles. We probably need to be able to carry 4 poles, and we can likely remove reels for carrying them.

Who has it figured out?

[Joanna]

Greg, I see people on the island with some sort of pvc attachment to their front bumpers that hold the reel ends of surf poles so that when they're driving along they often have 4 upright fishing poles waving in the wind. It baffled me the first time I saw it. Don't know if it's a home made item or not, I've seen them on Jeeps as well as clunky sedans. There's a horizontal piece with 3 or 4 vertical open ended tubes. I think the reels are off the poles.

Apologies for the clumsy description. I really need to learn about digital cameras.

[sdwindansea]

Greg, why not just attach rod holders to the bottom of the PH bed pieces (assuming you have a PH bed)? You will obviously need to take off the rods when you raise the roof, but this seems like it would be the easiest solution.

[lactic]

I am going to make a holder for my fly rods that mounts to the underside of the penthouse bed.

Something like this from Sports Authority.

http://www.sportsauthority.com/product/ ... Id=1790208

[Greg In Austin]

I am a little concerned about losing any head height when we are travelling, so I am not sure that a rod holder under the PH bed would work for us. Even though it is only a few inches, when the top is down, those few inches can make it much more comfortable to move around in the van.

We do have a PH Bed and we have a center aisle design.

My thoughts thus far have been around a large diameter PVC tube (say 6 inches) with screw on caps at both ends.

Yakima sells a strap attachment system for just such items, for attaching round tube-like objects to roof racks.

...but I would like to hear all ideas.

[yvrr]

We installed a fly rod holder from iFly:

http://stores.homestead.com/FishingSolu ... eFront.bok

We bought the iFly Double Mount Rod Holder and screwed the holder at the bottom rear of the penthouse bed. Make sure that your order includes the tip holder (not shown in the photos)...we installed the tip holder (just a board with Velcro to hold each tip) at the front end of the front bed.

This system works very well. The rod tips only reduce the headroom at the front edge of the bed by about an inch or so at the most...

[BC]

Here's a couple of slightly more unconventional yet highly functional locations. Both were sort of freak of nature, you know, you are sitting in there just looking around and aha!, it hits you....

These stay with van at all times, no matter where I go. When bringing additional rods, shorter kids ones for instance, they fit nicely in storage along left side (beauty of that EB).

------

Fly Rod goes here. The lamps hold it quite well and this has proven to be off-road worthy. Just have to be a little careful when adjusting lights for reading but even then it will stay. This is an 8-foot rod, use both lamps to secure.


Three piece backbacking spin rod goes here. This would be hard to duplicate if you didnt have the exact Diawa Spinmatic-X (which I highly recommend, super light and small). It just happened to fit snugly right up in there. Doesnt interfere with door, the light, anything. Has never fallen nor wavered, easily accesible.

[Joanna]

Really clever, BC.

[jlrray]

I might be missing something, but...leave em in their cases and throw them in the long side slot underneath the cabinetry in a 50 style SMB. I've stored a 2-8wts, 2 10wts, 1 - 12wt and a 14wt.. plus 6 casting rods in there. As long as they are in the cordura / pvc case you should be fine. If you need LOTS of rods, or storing plenty of 14wt rods (it happens ) you may need to rig up a PVC Storage container on your roof rack if you have one.

[cellularSTEVE]

I have 2 stored like BC does. Mine are just above the side doors. I use a really neat holder called the Quick Fist. i bought them fromhttp://www.endroad.com/page/page/711712.htm and they have differnt sizes.

Never come undone, even on severe washboard.

steve