Now, I know that most of you are big time bass fishermen...but, for the very few who might like to eat some catfish now and again, I thought i'd show the little gadget I made to hold trot and jug lines when I'm fishing by myself.

I have some V-Cleats left over from my sailing days so I mounted two of them to a plywood scrap of wood. Then I mounted it on an empty oar socket.



I can loosen the nut and turn the holder around so that it doesn't stick out should I be messing around in brush or timber!



The V-Cleats keep the line from slipping out of my hand when for some reason...like having to rest from all the effort of pulling in a monster catfish...I have to stop pulling on the line. It is also handy when baiting a line to be able to let the line drape over the side of the boat, while the weight of the anchor weight is held in the V-clamp, as I reach for more bait.

It works!

That is a great idea - the crabbers here do something similar for there trot lines

Now you need a power take off and you can harvest

cool rig i am going to fabricate somethin similar. i use big hooks 8/0,9/0 and 10/0 for troutlineing and tie them snag. i was tought to use a tight line with a lot of weight. my lines are dangerous for one man to run . your device woulb be a saftey net for me while baiting and re baiting.

That's a nice rig. That would definitely help when setting, baiting or checking a trotline. I always end up with a hook in my clothes or something else in the boat when I'm messing with trotlines.

Im going to design a page just for your projects!

Well, now...money or expensive gifts would also be welcome!

Har! Har!

Just joking my friend.....

Slabmaster, I was once told by an old catfisherman that running a trotline by yourself was one of the most dangerous things a man could do!

However, a solo fisherman doesn't have any choice except to be very very careful.

I’ll tell you a story about one of stupid mistakes I made while running a trotline!

My wife and I were going to check a long trotline that we had tied running West to East between two tree stumps, in a cove full of dead tree stumps. It was difficult to pass through all the underwater stumps in our pontoon boat.

That day the wind was blowing very strong from the South side of the trotline, and for some reason, my mind wasn't working at all, and I approached the trotline upwind on the South side of the line.

As you know a pontoon boat’s side draws a lot of windage. No sooner had we lifted the trotline to check for fish, then the wind started blowing us under the trotline! The line with all the hooks passed over the top of boat, breaking one fishing rod held in a holder, as both my wife and I fell to the floor…as the line with all those hooks passed over our heads!

Thank God for the side rails and the console that deflected the trotline and hooks!

That was the end of any trotline fishing for my wife! Nowadays I mostly jug line fish with quick disconnect leaders on the upper hooks!

I hope the line holder will make it safer for you.