Ever lose a rod/pole? How do you prevent it?

[FG Steve]

Did some searching on this and came up with little.  If you know of previous threads, links would be cool.

I have never lost a fishing rig down the hole, but I have seen a few of them go, some in spectacular fashion, and usually with someone scrambling toward it in futile slow motion.

I have buddies that just lay their rod on the ice.  I can't do that.  My setups are pretty basic but retail value to replace them would be >$100 each, x 5, and that's just the rod and reel.

For prevention, I have always used angled rod holders, anchored to the ice, such that a fish can take drag without taking the rod.  For a free-standing holder, I pile a mound of shavings on the base to glue it down.  Sometimes I use screw-in holders.  In each case, I pull line off the reel toward the hole to test it.

Have you ever lost a rod down the hole?

How do you prevent it?

[Idahogator]

A good topic, Steve. And they've all gone mute.   

I' ve never lost a rod/pole/line.  My approach is like a trapper in making a set.   Secure anchoring being the first consideration.

A good rod/pole holder, as you mentioned and maybe an Eskimo screw-in anchor into the ice for good measure.

And checking the drag ~ not too tight.     


Tom

Update: Ice is usually not over the big fish here so, I use a 5" auger and would like to wedge a fish in one.     

[RussC]

A fellow I know ties thin rope to the handle of his rods. He drills holes (with a hand drill and wood bit) at an angle to place the rod in and then just leaves the rope on the ice. If the rod goes down the hole the rope is still on top. Never have seen him lose a rod yet.

Russ C

[Warren_G]

I have a couple of these, although they are more difficult to find these days. They work like the HT holder, but if you get a big fish, it pulls the rod down and locks into the latch. The circle at the bottom is just larger than a 10" hole so it cannot be pulled through the ice. They work well, and don't require tying your rod to anything or messing with cords or cables. The Fishing Hole sometimes has them, a good investment if you happen to find one.

[Shoe]

Never lost a rod down the hole.  But maybe I haven't put enough time in.  I can never get enough ice time.  I use several kinds of rod holders.  Dickey rod holders - they are simple and cheap if you can find them.  My favorite, "The Guardian", no longer advertised but made in ND.  A couple of years ago, I tracked down the family that manufactured them, called them, and bought a couple more of them.  Both of these types are attached to the rod but don't interfere with landing a fish.  I have one of those wire HT jiggers but like the others better.  I made wooden hole cover with a slot in it - protects my palm rod if I set that down.

s

edit
Guardian, for what it is worth, is the green/yellow rod holder.  Rod is banded or strapped to it.  Very light but tough plastic.  The half moon crossbar won't let the rod go down the hole.

[river rat78]

I actually did lose a rod down the hole once. I thought I had it secured on top of the minnow bucket. I was busy hole hoping and when I went back to check on my pole it was gone. Looked in the hole and there it was on the bottom. Thankfully I had a 6' rod in my car with a big spoon. Took me forever to find the hole it fell down. When I finally found the hole my pole wasn't long enough. I had to stick my arm into the water to make up the distance. To my surprise the fish was still on the hook. A 10" perch was the culprit.

[Spider1]

If I'm not gonna be tending my rod for a moment I'll either put it in a rod holder attached to me sled or drop it butt first into a bucket.

[Baetis62]

https://www.fishusa.com/product/Tag-Alder-Tackle-Dickey-Rod-Saver

After losing several rods down the hole Mac fishing I gave these a try.  They have a spring loaded mechanism (not hook setting) that holds the legs in a V shape when set (holder function).  When a fish takes aggressively the spring compresses unlocking the legs which then pop into a position that is perpendicular to the rod (saver function).   They also fit in a bucket with less hassle than any of the wire holders I used to use. 

[RStock521]

I'm slowly converting my rod "holders" to JawJackers.  They have little spikes on the arms so that they dont move.

[ran7ger]

 best lost rod story i have, was fishing pike one day and not catching in the popup so we decided to have a fire and cook some food outside.  no rod holder so buddy set his rig outside the popups door with the rod resting on the zipper.  got caught up in the comraderie and all of a sudden that rod jumped about 4 feet straight up, through the door and out of sight.  we still laugh about that but sadly must have been a real good fish.

 i've lost a couple, caught a couple.  bought a okuma bait feeder to try in the rod holder this year, should work slick.  otherwise i use cheap combos and lay the scoop handle across the hole just in case .

[esox_xtm]

Have you ever lost a rod down the hole?

How do you prevent it?

Pay attention.

Next question... 

[esox_xtm]

Funny response, considering the amount of thought and time guys here put into eating and food prep on the ice. Lol! Makes you wonder what their priorities are out there!

C'mon man... have a sense of humor. Tell me anyone ever lost a rod down a hole when they WERE paying attention. OK, deadsticks. Guess what? Are you giving that your FULL attention? Yeah.

Now, for a serious answer (boring). Any kind of tether solves the problem. Fishing line (no not 3# test, like paracord, masons' line, whatever) tie your rod to something. This ain't rocket science. 'Cept maybe to some folks...

Now back to the eating and BBQ... 

[eyeflyer]

I use a float (wave buster) on all lines when ice fishing. If I have to leave the rod for a minute I just open the bail.

[slipperybob]

I've never lost a pole down the hole.  I did lose the coleman lantern and it went down the hole.  It was set on the floor, the ice melted and it slid straight into the hole.

It wasn't tethered or lanyard down.  My fishing poles are, when I know I'm getting tired and not paying close attention.  Furthermore, I already know a catfish will yank your rod easy.  I once left one pole unattended on the ice volcano.  I was still drilling some more holes - yeah making ice volcanoes.  I drill so I'm facing my unattended pole.  Next thing I saw my pole jumped like five feet straight up in the air.  The feeling of lost pole hit me right there.  I ran over as fast as I could.  I was sure it would be down the hole, but actually it jumped up and past the ice hole.  Clearly it was laying on the other side in the snow fluff.  I grabbed the rod and it was dead quiet.  The fish did not hook up. 

[Rex in OTZ]

Yes Id lost a couple in 28 years  each time Id known better and was young n foolish.
I usually use a 5 gallon plastic bucket to carry my fishing gear and water bottle & sit on while fishing.


Its best Ethicly to just pull up your line if your not actively fishing  I would wrap my poles line a couple times around my buckets wire handle, itd keep the pole outta tbe hole if you catch it right away if your a few steps away from your hole.
Of course what we fish for its best to pull the line.

Only 3 times have I ever snagged a lost pole and brought it to the surface while fishing.
Only one time did I get back my lost pole  about an hour after it went down the hole some folks a couple holes over brought it up.

[panfishman13]

i've never lost a rod, but my brother, father, and several friends all have.

i have some sweet rod holders my dad made ages ago, they don't fit down an 8" hole, and any rod that may sit unattended for any period of time gets tethered to the rod holder itself by a length of cord about 3 foot long. most every lake i fish has trout in it that like to hit a bait, and just bolt off with it. more than once i've looked out across my spread of dead rods and either watched a rod disappear down a hole, or just see a rod holder on its side. because i tether those rods obsessively, i've never lost one.

[Maddog]

Two years ago my wife had a string of bad luck loosing 3 rod and reels down the hole. Kind of expensive. Since then she just opens her spinning reels bail and leaves it open so far so good.

[massNtrash]

I lost one down a hole once when first using my home made jaw jacker style set ups. I was only 20ft or so away from it and it went off I started towards it and watched the whole thing go down the hole. The rod holder came off immediately and I was able to tie on a big treble and snag it up. Then the next day after drilling a bunch of holes in the area and looking with my underwater camera I was able to locate the rod and reel. A handful of holes later I got one on top of it and one next to it so I could watch my treble on the camera until I was able to snag the bail of the reel and bring it back up. Luckily the fish had spit the hook. Now anytime that I am going to do that type of fishing I put a screw in type anchor in the ice and then set the rod holder inside the handle portion of the ice anchor so that it can't physically go anywhere.

[Baetis62]

I lost a few and always while fishing Macs on Granby or Mesa.  Years ago one went in and I ended up snagging the whole enchilada back up (including the fish) about 15 minutes later.  80' of water.  Small fish but he smoked it.   

[IceholeHEN]

Within the last few years I've lost 4 poles. Since then I been using rod holders attached to a bucket.

[Rex in OTZ]

I recon a fella could  simply add a small cord loop to the butt of your jigging pole, have a 3 foot length of cord with a dog snap on each end, one could attach the snap to the pole and the other to a bucket handle, even if you drop your pole it wont drop down to the bottom.

[lefty2053]

Well I never lost anything down a Hole until today. I was scooping out some holes and stopped to look at something for a second. I put the scoop in between my legs to hold it and when I got down looking at who knows what I turned and open my legs and down the hole went my scoop. It wasn't in very deep water and I could see it. But after 10 minutes of trying to snag it I gave up.

[WYIfish]

In the recent past I have lost two short ice rods down holes. I had nearly lost a couple more with rainbows on.   The culprit: them red wire sleezy B_____es they call a rod holder. Should call them rod loosers. I now set the drag rather lite or leave the bail open with a bobber.

[stout93]

I use a float (wave buster) on all lines when ice fishing. If I have to leave the rod for a minute I just open the bail.

Agreed. I just open the bail if I leave a rod unattended. I suppose a fish could spool you and there goes your rod, but has never happened to me..

[Chute82]

Lost a rod on a home made slammer... I was about 5 ft from the rod..when it tripped it went the air about 2 ft and straight down the hole.  I tried for a few hrs trying to catch the rod with zero luck..last time I used a slammer

[Fisherman 1]

Pay attention to your rod, quit babbling like an old woman telling fishing lies to the other guys and you might catch a fish.

[lefty2053]

Pay attention to your rod, quit babbling like an old woman telling fishing lies to the other guys and you might catch a fish.

[pmmpete]

I haven't ever lost a rod down a hole, but I had some pretty close calls when using those cheap wire rod holders or putting rods in buckets.  At first I made some rod savers to keep my rods from being pulled down a hole.  Click on the thumbnails to enlarge the pictures.  I made them out of a hardware store fiberglass wand, a block of wood or Pexiglass, an epoxied-in nylock nut, and a hardware store hand bolt.  These are a lot sturdier than the rather flimsy Dicky rod savers described earlier in this thread. I'm not a fan of rod savers.  They're a bit inconvenient to use.   But if you have six rods lying on the ice while trout fishing, as you can on some lakes in Montana, they are a compact way to keep the rods from being pulled down a hole.







Then for a while I made rod holders for pike and lake trout fishing out of Scotty rod holders and bases and lengths of aluminum bar stock.  The bar stock extended past the tip of the rod on both sides of the hole, so no matter how hard the fish pulled, it couldn't tip over the rod holder or pull the rod and its holder down the hole.  However, the bobbers and flags I attached to my fishing line to alert me to strikes were a bit inconvenient to use.



Now I use a modified HT Ice Rigger when fishing for pike and lake trout, where I want to let line play out when a fish grabs my bait.  The Ice Rigger sends up a flag when a fish runs off with my bait.  I replaced the rod holder with a Scotty rod holder and base, mounted off center so the reel won't interfere with the flag. I enlarged the flag with orange duct tape, and added a second duct tape flag lower on the shaft for increased visibility.  I've also added a swiveling aluminum bar to prevent the Ice Rigger from sliding down my hole.  In cold weather I set the Ice Rigger on an insulated board with a slot cut in it for my line to keep my hole from icing up.







When I want to set the hook as soon as I get a bite, I use a Jaw Jacker.  These are real secure.  A fish can't pull your rod out of the Jaw Jacker's rod holder, and it can't pull the entire Jaw Jacker down a hole.

[FG Steve]

Wow, Pete, thanks for the thorough and thoughtful response.  Cool stuff!  Thanks to all for the replies so far.  Keep 'em coming!