Fishing Rod Holder

Fishermen discovered the secrets of the all-purpose bucket before the rest of us did. If you see one at their favorite fishing spot, you might notice their bucket sidekick is doing one or ALL of the following.

• Holding their bait & tackle
• Holding their butt
• Holding their fishing rods
• Automatic line fishing

I’ve already covered most of these bucket missions on other posts. You can click the links above to go to those articles. Today we’re talking rods – storing them neatly and mounting them to do your fishing for you.

Fishing Rod Storage

For the fisher with multiple rods, a bucket is the ultimate organization tool both at home and on site.

A raw bucket requires minimal modification to hold rods. You can either attach these pre-fabricated rod holders using the included hardware, or fashion one of your own using 1-1/2″ PVC pipe and a single PVC coupler.

Cut a “U” shaped slot in your coupler to fit your reel and allow enough length at the base to accommodate your rod’s handle.

Fishing on Autopilot

Enterprising line fishers let angled rod holders to do their fishing for them. I’ve seen guys using 5 at a time to greatly increase their chances of a bite at any given time.

Pictured above is D.P. from Burton, Michigan. He’s proud of his fishing setup, saying:

 “Shown here are a pair of rod holder buckets. They not only keep my rods and reels up and out of the dirt, but give me a place to keep my fish alive other than by using a stringer. I’ve yet to hook a fish that can move one of my 7 gallon buckets with 50 lbs of water in it.”

DP uses some high-end rod holders that he’s customized to his fisherpails. Berkley makes a variety of these rod holders, including one specifically designed for buckets. 

Cover Photo Credit: Insane Photoholic