Surf Rod Holder

[MHG]

So not something the majority of the country needs to deal with but here on Long Island it’s a must. A place for your surf rods. At 10, 11 and 12’ long and quite pricey, you don’t want to take them apart and toss them in the bed.

Welded to a bull bar is ideal so you can point your truck towards the surf and bait fish right from there. However I typically don’t hate fish in the surf and not many bull bar options out there for the 4th Gen Tacoma. For me it’s more of a transport method. Still need to make a few adjustments on the forward poll as its butt hits the wheel well. Not to mention I need a security method if you stop for breakfast.

I also need to add a buckle
To the bed cover.

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[Novax]

Why does the side view look sooo good!? Specs?

 

[BIGPZA]

This is a pretty genius little design you got going on.

I went with one of those Port-a-Rod holders that some dude down south makes. Guy welds brackets onto aluminum rod holders and then attaches them to a ratcheting cargo bar. Not as rugged as I'd like, but it definitely gets the job done, and it isn't permanent unless you want it to be. The other cool thing about it is you can change the angle of the rod holders if you needed to get some more overhead clearance.

For security, I bought a bunch of pistol locks that are all keyed alike. I run the cable for the lock through one of the holes in each reel handle and lock it to the bar. Granted, if you're smart enough to just remove the reel from the seat, or if you had a pair of bolt cutters handy, you could make quick work of my little security system, but I figure it's enough of a deterrent where I can run into a deli without panicking. You could definitely get away with something similar with what you've got going on...pistol lock through the handle hole on the van staal (or through the open portion of the rotor on that Daiwa) and through the D-ring tie down in your bed rail.

I'll tell you though, driving with the rods back there scares the shit out of me if I'm going somewhere new. I do a lot of trips to Cape Cod in the summer for fluke and to Rhode Island in the fall and winter for tautog. Was definitely white knuckling it my first few trips up there worried I was going to encounter a low bridge, and that's with 7-7'6" rods. For that reason I usually take my surf rods apart. I know there's a few bridges on Robert Moses as you head down to Ocean Pkwy that would be trouble if I didn't take my rod apart. Same deal if I'm going out to Brooklyn. I just throw the rods through the rear window at that point instead of using the rack.

 

[MHG]

All the places I fish I have left them fully or right (on my jeep). Hit the occasional tree branch. But only slightly.

because I have the bed cover my options are limited. I was thinking of throwing a front hitch receiver on but we will see if anyone comes out with a good one.

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