I have been playing around with a variety of fishing/trolling thwarts and wonder what other folks use. These various solutions are all posted in different rebuild and outfitting threads, brought together here as a compendium of rod holder solutions.

A couple of friends use a clever rod holder device made from two plastic cutting boards, wing-nutted around a thwart. That sandwich holds the rod angled in place via a rectangular slot on the top board.

PA040044 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The bottom cutting board has a narrower slot, providing an outboard rod angle on either side.

PA040043 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

A simple, proven successful, non-permanent solution. Personally I don’t care much for wing nuts or clamps, or temporary solutions in general; if I want something I want it there all the time.

Most of our boats have a permanent “utility thwart” that incorporates a Spirit Sail base mount. When we owned tandems there was a utility/sail thwart up front for the bowman, who isn’t provided with much flat floor space that doesn’t already have feet in it.

P7140007 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

P6100015 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Most of our solo boats have a more centered utility/sailing thwart, and an always-there strap yoke that, when not in use, can be rolled up out of the way under one inwale.

P1010009 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The Spirit Sail mount is actually a Scotty accessory base, so any Scotty accessory fits, pivots and angle adjusts. There is now a flush-mount version of that base mount, negating the need for thwart drops to keep a thwart base mount below the sheerline.

https://scotty.com/product/244l-locking ... eck-mount/

P1200025 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

We have a similar utility sail mount in all our decked boats. Decked hull, rudder, small sail, tailwind – it doesn’t get much better than that.

P5010009 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

DSCF1476 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Rehabbing a dedicated reservoir fishing tandem I wanted a fishing/trolling rod holder for the stern paddler, who is likelier to be hands-busier than the bow. Semi-standard but more shapely utility thwart, with angled rod handle holes.

The holes needed some depth to grip the rod handles and keep the tips angled outboard, so I installed a small centered bottom platform, and drilled \___/ matching rod angle holes through that under-shelf. That utility thwart, being stern mounted and 28” wide, needed leg clearance on the sides, so the under-shelf is only 12” wide, and doesn’t interfere with paddling leg spread or foot placement.

P1070058 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The minicel wedge is a sacrificial piece on which to embed hooks or lures when swapping out. Eventually sacrificial, the minicel holds up well even to barbed hook puncture.

That took care of a fishing platform for the stern paddler. I admittedly don’t care about the bowman, at least not yet, but that canoe is a Mad River Explorer, easily solo paddled bow backwards. So easily that I installed a bow backwards foot brace. If (when) I paddle it I’ll be solo and want that foot brace and, fishing or not, the convenience of a utility thwart platform in that orientation.

But - there is always a but - that bow backwards fishing thwart is best positioned at the current yoke location. The outfitted RX Explorer is an 86lb canoe, and needs a real yoke, not some webbing strap. And I need a bow backwards utility thwart. Which may as well incorporate fishing attributes. No reason I can’t combine the best of both.

P2020020 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The blue tape in that test fit marks the outside of my neck/shoulder area when under the yoke; I didn’t want to attach any outfitting gee gaws in that space. Like the under-shelf fishing platform it is 2 ¼” deep, but solid wood at the inwale edges, with shaped, off-set wood blocks above and below.

P2030022 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Being yoke-location center hull wide there was no inwale edge leg obstruction, and I could position the rod holder holes further outboard.

FWIW the original slender yoke with machine screws & etc weighed 1lb 6oz. The wider utility fishing yoke, double hung with two machine screws at each end and bungee/D-ring outfitted, weighed 2lb 11oz, and could certainly be constructed less weighty.

I still need to lay a bunch of coats of spar urethane on that bow backwards fishing yoke, re-dress it and re-install it. And renew my fishing license. Maybe this year I’ll actually go fishing.

I know there are a variety of clamp-on rod holders, and am curious about what more dedicated fisher folk use? Like a lot of things I don’t know what I don’t know about canoe fishing/trolling.

a few years back when I started to fish from a canoe I used rod holders. I gave up on that idea quickly. I find my reaction time is a lot better if the butt of the rod is braced against my knees.

_________________

Old canoeists never die---they just smell that way.

Wotrock, there may be design opportunities there, depending on where and how the rod is braced.

Knee braced against an inwale I presume, not tightly held between your clenched knees like a Catholic school girl. If it’s the latter, and you have the uniform, please send photos.

If it is the former, maybe a minicel knee bumper with a half-round concavity for the rod handle. There is plenty of depth on the bow-backwards knee bumpers to file down a half-round recess for rod handles.

P1080017 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

What the hell, I’m throwing every experimental DIY rod holder idea I can think of at this dedicated reservoir fishing canoe, and I like the pluck-the-rod quick reaction time, and the tactile feel-a-strike aspect. My old knees are pretty sensitive, and have been known to predict the weather.

Admittedly, attentive-wise, the last of my adulthood fishing was for trout, backpacked into remote lakes in the Rockies. If we were desperately hungry we would attentively cast & retrieve, but I found something still in my tackle box from those days that made me laugh.

Clip-on bear bells, the kind meant to attach to your shoe laces, so the bear scat would have bells in it. We most often used them attached to a rod tip; find a comfy lakeside boulder, cast out a line with a grasshopper on hook, wedge the rod in somewhere and lay back to read a book or write in a journal.

“Ting-ting-ting” goes the dinner bell.

that reminds me of this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgHcsbxPhEI&t=1182s
when you start the video, that sudden jerk of the wood is the hook set.
hilarious,

THAT’S IT. The Guillotine Fish-o-Matic, hooked to a thwart. With the new Filet-o-Matic attachment for bonier fish.

I assume that was a joke. All I got when I googled it was a series of bad videos of some crazy guy with even crazier gear!

Re knees---It comes so natural now that I cannot remember exactly how I/we do it.I am lucky at my 'advanced age' that i can still kneel---getting up is another matter though. I think I put 1 knee a bit ahead of the other and tuck the butt of the rod in between. Not really secure but i rely on my reflexes to grab it whenever a fish, weeds, or the Cdn shield grab it.

I have this rod holder from decades ago that I used when I had a small motorboat. I cannot remember what I paid but WoW!---the price has increased a lot! I have seen posts online raving about it. Maybe I should sell it online.

https://www.amazon.ca/Down-East-D-10-Ho ... 6551&psc=1

_________________

Old canoeists never die---they just smell that way.