Easy Fishing Rod Holder for a Kayak

A recent trip to Northern Minnesota re-kindled my enjoyment of fishing, but back here in Wisconsin, I only have a couple of kayaks to hit the water and find the lunkers. After a couple outings trying to manage my fishng poles and paddle in our inflatable tandem kayak, I decided that the whole venture would be a little more enjoyable and relaxing if I had some of those fancy fishing rod holders that I see on fully-rigged fishing kayaks. I've seen others use PVC pipe for their own rigs, so I decided I would do the same, but given the limited space in my kayak, I couldn't attach the holders to a crate or bucket, and since my kayak is inflatable, I also couldn't readily attatch them to the kayak itself.

The design I came up with is cheap and easy to build, and simply sits on the floor of my kayak tucked behind my seat, making it really easy to install and remove. And by combining the PVC t-joints that I used for the rod holders with a 45 degree elbow, I can adjust the position of the rods to keep them out of the way while paddling or to have them readily accessible while I'm fishing. Since the PVC joints all fit tightly without glue, I left them unglued so that I can easily re-configure the rod holder to suit different kayaks,

Note that this is a rod-holding rig, rather than a trolling rig. since a good strike could possibly cause the holder to turn enough to allow the rod to be pulled out. But if you do want to troll with your setup without risk of losing a rod, you can glue the joints on the top section once you have the angles set the way you like, add a quick-release strap tp prevent your rod from being pulled free if you get a good strike, and troll away.

The cost to build this was around $10, and it took me less than a half hour to complete it. I used a fine-tooth Sharksaw (a saw with Japanese-style teeth) to cut the PVC, and clamped the pieces in a small benchtop Workmate that I just sat on the ground next to my kayak. I also used a tape measure and permanent marker to measure and mark the pieces to be cut.

I bought all of the pieces I needed to build my fishing rod holder from Menards, a local big-box store, and the pieces should be readily available from any well-stocked building supply or hardware store. The one thing I found at Menards that I could not find at Home Depot was the tee connector that I used for the rod holders, which is a 1" x 1" x 3/4" tee connecor. The two ends of the through part are both 1" sized which is needed to accomodate most fishing rod handles, and the cross part is 3/4", which allowed me to build the frame from 3.4" PVC, making it lighter and smaller, not to mention cheaper. If you can't find a fitting like this, you can build the whole frame from 1" pipe and fittings. Having noted that, here's what I used for mine.

• 1 10' length of 3/4" PVC pipe ~ $4.00 each
• 2 1" x 1" x 3/4" PVC tee connectors ~ $1.20 each
• 2 3/4" 45 degree PVC elbow connectors ~ $1.00 each
• 4 3/4" PVC tee connectors ~ $.60 each
• 4 3/4 PVC end caps ~ $.30 each

The rod-holders (the 1"x1"x3/4" tees) are connected to the 45 degree elbows by a 2" length of 3/4" PVC. I cut these by clamping the pipe in my Workmate and cut the PVC with my fine-toothed Sharksaw, which makes very quick work of cutting PVC. After cutting the pipe, I assembled the rod-holders and then used the assembly to measure the length of pipe I needed for the piece of pipe to connect the rod-holder to the first tee. I wanted my rod holder to sit just outside the boat, so I held the assembly in place and measured the distance from the inside of the 45-degree elbow to the inside of the boat hull (where the leg would come down from the connecting tee), and cut pieces of pipe to that length. In my case, it was 6-1/2". After cutting these, I added them to the rod-holders, completing each of the arm assemblies.

With the arms done, make the foot assembly using a tee connect and 2 sections of 3/4" pipe on either end of the connector. I used 6" pieces to create about 13" long feet. Finish these off with end caps on the ends of each of the pipes and set the feet in place on your boat, Then, hold the arm assembly in place on your boat and measure for the length of the leg pipe. I measured from the bottom of the top tee to the top of the bottom tee and added 2" for the amount of pipe that goes into each tee. After cutting the legs, connect the arm assemblies to the feet and then measure the distance between the top tee connectors for the cross piece of pipe. Here I also measured between the end of each tee connector and added 2" for the pipe that goes inside the connectors..

Once the leg pieces are cut, complete the assembly and adjust the angle of your rod holders and feet to suit your boat, and you're rodf holders are done!

The hardest thing about building this project was waiting to use it until the next time I could go fishing. But now that I've used it a couple of times, I'm quite happy with the results. I'm able to keep my rods up and out of the way while paddling, and can leave the lures on without worrying about them hooking and deflating my boat or dragging in the water and picking up weeds as I paddle.

If you decide to make this and come up with improvements, I hope you share them here on Instructables.