Rod Holder Extension

Looking for suggestions on reconfiguring my rod holder setup. I have an OK Ultra 4.3. I currently have a couple of Scotty mounts located on the center hatch cover, and then my fish finder mounted past them on the furthest part of the hatch. Behind the finder, mounted to the hull, is another Scotty mount. That mount is too far away to be useful when seated in a paddling position though. This picture shows the current setup. The fish finder isn't in the picture, but you can see where the transducer cables are sticking up by the fish finder base. The second Scotty mount in front of the finder is obscured by the rod holder.



Having the rod holders mounted in front of the fish finder is convenient in terms of being easy to reach, but they are really in the way when swinging a leg over, and don't really allow a good range of motion with the paddle when trolling with a rod in the holder. My thought at this point is to try and bring the mount behind the fish finder into play using extensions of some sort. It would need to get up high enough to clear the finder, a Lowrance Elite 5, and come forward at least as far as the finder, further would be better. In a perfect world, this setup would be strong enough to troll from, as well as just storing the rod when I need to grab the paddle.

I'm running Scotty stuff right now, but I'm open to changing that if any of you have had good luck with cantilevered extensions using other brands of holders. Scotty makes a couple of extension rods and gear head attachments, anyone have any experience good or otherwise with their stuff? Could be I just need to live with a short paddle stroke and bruised shins, but I hope not.

I use the gearhead with an extension arm and love it.  Great combo!  Even better if you use the Scotty slip disks.

-Mark-

gearhead ? for track mount??i use to have the gearhead  with same extension, i liked it too till i lit a smoke looked up and my rod and the holder were gone into the drink. the tab sheared off..or finally decided to break off at that time. thank god was able to fish my rod  and holder back. since then have switched to a scotty? 2 tab locking base and highly recommend anyone do the same or at least leash ur rod holder if u do choose to use the gearheads.

Spot, that is exactly what I am trying to accomplish. Good to know that it has been strong enough to do the job. I'll have to take a look at the slip discs too, nice to be able to adjust things more on the fly.

And dampainter, thanks for the heads up on the gearhead. I can see how it would be a weak point. Leashing the holder probably isn't a bad idea. I hate leashes on the rods, I'm going to try some floats and see if I like that any better.

Thanks for the input guys.

Just make sure you have a good solid backing plate. More extension = more leverage.

This is on my trident but it has a mod pod.

The slip disks are a "must have" in my opinion. Those things make the Scotty system near perfect with their increased adjustability. I also switched to the locking mount after yanking my rod out of the holder and watching the holder get launched into the air then sinking to the bottom in about 100 fow.

I have the old style mounts without the locking mechanism. They are kind of a pain, they lock in OK, but to get them out I really have to pull hard on them. I can see that turning out poorly with a rod in my lap or a perfectly timed swell as my balance is compromised. Hadn't noticed the locking style mount until it was mentioned above, but I like the looks of it. Sounds like the Scotty rigging will work just fine, and the slip discs are definitely going to be part of the equation. Might be a while before I can get the parts for the new setup, but I'll post some pics when I do. Thanks again for all the input.

+2 on the slip discs. Also get yourself some extension elbows. I'd like to upgrade to a gear head but havnt yet because the mod pod has never failed me. Here's my setup, & thanks for giving us an excuse to post fish porn. Fist pic the holder is setup for on anchor back bouncing, 2nd pic is setup on troll.

Makes it a little hard to concentrate on the rod holder mounts with those bright shiny things there to draw the eye. Thanks for the photographic evidence that the extension setup does its job.