Another little improvement made.

[Richard Isaacs]

Coming from an engineering background I love improving stuff or making stuff and I’m always finding ways to utilise my small home workshop to bring my ideas into practice.

I’m a huge fan of swing rests. I think the idea of the rod always at 90° to its resting point is brilliant despite the angle and I’ve always used swing rests for years for my static bait fishing.

Its been long on my list of things to do to make my swing rests a little more 3ft twitch proof. I’d be telling fibs if I was to say I’ve never taken my eye off the game to find my rod quickly dragged off the rest and heading down the bank.
While my new modification isn’t there to completely stop the rod coming off it does buy me a few extra seconds to get my head back on the ball and could potentially save an expensive mistake.

Let me introduce the first swing/barbel rests finished at the weekend

Very simple. An aluminium mechanical stop that I machined then drilled and threaded into the rest. A big improvement to an already brilliant product. Copy if you wish.

 

[Bob Gill]

Designed and made a solid PVC latex lined rod rest around 20 years ago in an attempt to reduce the likelihood of rod being dragged out of the rest. Made quite a few of these for mates. Sorry about the pink latex liner.

Cheers
Bob

 

[Mark Anderson]

Hi men

Sue was impressed by these , magnetic closing , cheap as chips .

Hatter

 

[Richard Isaacs]

Designed and made a solid PVC latex lined rod rest around 20 years ago in an attempt to reduce the likelihood of rod being dragged out of the rest. Made quite a few of these for mates. Sorry about the pink latex liner.

View attachment 9123

Cheers
Bob

I like the idea but would prefer the high side to be only at 1 side. I’ve deliberately kept the upstream side open so they can be used to side strike if that is required.

 

[David Craine]

I like the idea but would prefer the high side to be only at 1 side. I’ve deliberately kept the upstream side open so they can be used to side strike if that is required.

I made something similar about eight years ago, by adapting a normal v shaped screw in rest head with a strip of aluminium, in fact I made a matching pair to fit on my river tripod head, they have saved one of my rods a couple of times. They are a bit battered now, but still work fine.

I also probably more like twelve years ago, made a pair of what must be the ugliest bank stick rod rest heads I have ever seen, both with deep " V " shapes and a sort of round shaped arm tops, top to stop the rod bouncing out when the three foot twitch finally arrives , I can live with the looks as despite the wierd design they work a treat and any " bounce " of the rod is contained , as above, they have seen a lot of service and despite their age and "interesting " appearance, I wouldnt swap them for any of the commercially available ones, they both have tilt mechanisms so that the rods are at 90 degrees to the rest heads . I arent too fussy about appearance, when practical use is much more important to me.

David

 

[Richard Isaacs]

I made something similar about eight years ago, by adapting a normal v shaped screw in rest head with a strip of aluminium, in fact I made a matching pair to fit on my river tripod head, they have saved one of my rods a couple of times. They are a bit battered now, but still work fine.

I also probably more like twelve years ago, made a pair of what must be the ugliest bank stick rod rest heads I have ever seen, both with deep " V " shapes and a sort of round shaped arm tops, top to stop the rod bouncing out when the three foot twitch finally arrives , I can live with the looks as despite the wierd design they work a treat and any " bounce " of the rod is contained , as above, they have seen a lot of service and despite their age and "interesting " appearance, I wouldnt swap them for any of the commercially available ones, they both have tilt mechanisms so that the rods are at 90 degrees to the rest heads . I arent too fussy about appearance, when practical use is much more important to me.

David

They are awesome Dave. Yes they are certainly going to buy you some time when you turn around to pour a brew and the rod tip raps over.
I love the idea of the folded aluminium bar. That’s an absolute cracking design

 

[Graham Elliott]

I like these

 

[Jon Young]

View attachment 9127

I like these

Used to use one of these as a butt rest all the time after nearly losing my rod. Dropped the bank stick with it on one day and never bothered replacing it

 

[David Craine]

Going on from my above post, and making reference to Jons post above, here is a pic of the ugly rod rests in action, I made a couple of "butt rests" from a section of carbon pole , which were attached ro the tops of standard bank sticks, the rod butts slip into the tube sections, and sit a good height above the ground, when a fish bites, the rod butts stay in the tube sections and dont lift at all,nor move left or right,as the tubes keeps them in place and the rest heads keep the rods safely in place .The river in the photo is very wide, and as can be seen has a few rocks showing above the surface, in actual fact the river bed is a snag pit and the lines have to be kept well above the water level and away from the rocks as much as possible,hence the need for "highline "rod rests.
Again simple and functional.

Dave

 

[Gerry Giles]

The Ultimate rod retainer
was developed buy a guy fishing the legendary Rainbow lake in France where 90lb fish can drag your rods away in a flash it called the BUTT BUNGEE
here is a video made by someone else that shows it better than pictures

 

[Rob Weldon]

Don't think the top end matters too much,just stop the butt end being pulled around , even with a pin that's the important bit.

 

[Derek Funcks]

Bought a few of these butt holders from a guy on facebook

asked him if he could make me some deeper ones, which he duly obliged

the threaded part is attached an angle, which you can further adjust by angling the backstick.

 

[Richard Isaacs]

Bought a few of these butt holders from a guy on facebook

View attachment 9136

asked him if he could make me some deeper ones, which he duly obliged

View attachment 9137

the threaded part is attached an angle, which you can further adjust by angling the backstick.

I’ve often thought it would be a very quick and easy job to knock some of those up.
Got stacks of aluminium tube kicking about which would be perfect for it.

 

[Derek Funcks]

I’ve often thought it would be a very quick and easy job to knock some of those up.
Got stacks of aluminium tube kicking about which would be perfect for it.

Hi Richard, i see your a man of many talents, they'd be even better, if they had a floppy neck with a wingnut to adjust the angle, instead of angling the bankstick, if you get my drift.

 

[David Craine]

Hi Richard, i see your a man of many talents, they'd be even better, if they had a floppy neck with a wingnut to adjust the angle, instead of angling the bankstick, if you get my drift.

Like this Derek ?

They are the ones in the first phot, just had a coat of paint . The bank sticks are telescopic , and the heads are "hinged" so adjustable for almost any bank when used with the "ugly" long banksticks. They have a solid bolt through the centre, and at either end of the bolt there is a rubber washer, so when I tightened up the nylock nut, the rubber washer grips the tube against the steel bracket and does away with the need for a wingnut, the "heads" are set to the require angle and stay there. They must be seven or eight years old, I have never seen the need to upgrade them as they do the job, and saved a rod or two from ending up in the river

I am sure somebody could knock up a bespoke set if asked, the above suite me fine, cheap and cheerful, and work a treat.

David

 

[Richard Isaacs]

Hi Richard, i see your a man of many talents, they'd be even better, if they had a floppy neck with a wingnut to adjust the angle, instead of angling the bankstick, if you get my drift.

Well I do get your drift yes Derek but swing rests simply don’t need an angle adjustment point. As soon as your rod comes into contact with the rest it naturally takes the desired angle every time. It’s why I like them so much.

 

[Jason Bean]

Well I do get your drift yes Derek but swing rests simply don’t need an angle adjustment point. As soon as your rod comes into contact with the rest it naturally takes the desired angle every time. It’s why I like them so much.

in theory that's what I always thought, reality was if you had the rods high the heads cant swing due to gravity

 

[Rob Paylor]

View attachment 9127

I like these

I use one of these to hold the landing net handle in place when resting fish on awkward banks, but have also used as a rear rod holder after nearly having a rod pulled in

 

[Richard Isaacs]

in theory that's what I always thought, reality was if you had the rods high the heads cant swing due to gravity

Maybe we are discussing different rests. I can have my rods very high and the rests always take the desired position as soon as the weight of the rod enters the V

 

[Richard Isaacs]

Finishing touches
A bit of heat shrink. Wasn’t overly happy about the possibility of my Harrison’s been clanged against a metal stop at a 100mph. I’m a bit funny about that sort of thing.