Increasing Rod Storage

[kirk a]

Been thinking about additional rod storage for my 330. As it sits, I have the 6 holders on the tower legs, and 7 holders in the gunnels. I've seen two options discussed here previously - a rocket launcher at the rear of hard top, and adding clamp on holders on the tower legs. One thing I have not seen discussed is the use of a Trident to hold multiple rods in a holder. The main reason I want more holders is to have a place to clear rods from the cockpit when trolling. Seems like a Trident might be a cost effective solution. Thoughts? Experiences? Downsides?

 

[glacierbaze]

If you have that many rods on board, chances are that you are only using half of them at one time. Nothing beats a rocket launcher to get rods out of the way. Get as many as will fit across the back of the hard top, and don't tilt them any more than 15*, or you will catch one when casting from the cockpit.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

I mean… you can get a 5 or 6 rod holder rocket launcher on eBay for less than $100. I imagine for $100 you’re likely not going to get the best product out there, but for $400-$500 I’d think you would get something decent. It all just depends on how much you want to spend and what your budget is.

 

[drbatts]

Go with the hardtop rocket launcher as it will keep the rods up and out of the way. When I bought my boat it didn't come with a hardtop mounted rocket launcher. I actually thought it was the only grady express without one. I ended up ordering one from winterville machine works who makes them for Grady. They had one in stock including mounting hardware. I'm sure you can also find a local shop to fabricate one too.

 

[SeanC]

For maximum out of the way storage, a double rocket launcher on the hardtop is great.

 

[SkunkBoat]

hehehe you mean like when you have a spread of tuna trolling gear and then you reel it all in to throw poppers and jigs...and then you put the spread out again but now there's pots and your gear is too big for mahi so you switch out some but then you stop on a pot to catch mahi on bait on spinning rods and then you decide to deepdrop for tilefish ....and then put the spread out again for tuna????

 

[kirk a]

hehehe you mean like when you have a spread of tuna trolling gear and then you reel it all in to throw poppers and jigs...and then you put the spread out again but now there's pots and your gear is too big for mahi so you switch out some but then you stop on a pot to catch mahi on bait on spinning rods and then you decide to deepdrop for tilefish ....and then put the spread out again for tuna????

Wait - which one of my crew are you? LOL

 

[Hookup1]

I have a smaller boat that I kite fish for sailfish in FL. Lots of lines to put out, fish and clear. I have two Wahoo Industries 5-rod tridents. that I leave in the forward gunnel rod holders. These are where rods are stored and cleared to. I don't fish out of them because the reels are too close together and have better places. If you buy the Wahoo Industries trident's first thing you should do is use a little epoxy and glue the black caps on.

I have 5 rod holders across the hardtop. Bit of a stretch to reach even at 6' but it works. Also has one on each tower leg.

3 rod holders on each gunnel side (forward, mid and aft) and 2 across the transom. I have a 5-rod custom rod holder that drops into 2 transom rod holders like the tridents.

I usually fish one kite with 4-clips 60' apart, a spinning rod live pitch bait behind the boat and one live bait down rod. I'm setup to do more but I'm almost always fishing with one other person. I have to run the boat, deal with sea anchor for drift, setup kite and rods, get angler started and clear lines.

When trolling I don't use the tridents. They are off to the side.

I do use them at the dock. Handy to move 5 rods at a time!