Bank fishing is mostly a question of where your hands are. If both hands are on a rod, nobody is baiting a hook, nobody is picking a bird's nest out of a nine year old's reel, and nobody is watching the bobber when it dips under. My grandfather solved that on the farm pond with a forked stick cut fresh every trip, and I did the same for years. Then this past February we had one of those cold Saturdays at the pier where the line came off the reels in piles, Ben cried, and we were packing up after an hour. Unpacking the Tahoe that afternoon, I found loose hooks rolling around in the carpet and decided I was done with the way we had been doing things.
First week of March I ordered gear with my own money, one box from Amazon, and one of the things in it was a DZrudun ground rod holder two pack. I will tell you plainly that I did not expect much from it. I pushed one into the soft bank at my aunt's pond on a Saturday in late March, set my catfish rod in it, and walked off to help Callie with her bobber. When I looked back, the rod was still standing exactly where I left it. Eight months later both DZrudun holders still ride in the back of the Tahoe. Here are ten reasons they kept that spot.
Set the rod down and get your hands back
Two holders, one pouch, and a stake that goes 12.95 inches into the bank. That is the whole idea, and on soft ground it works.
Amazon Check Today's Price on Amazon →Your rod stays out of the grass while your hands are busy
Baiting a hook with a nightcrawler is a two hand job. So is tying on a fresh hook for an eleven year old in fading light. With the rod seated in the holder I can do both without laying it down in the dirt, where the guides pick up grit and the handle picks up pond mud. That sounds like a small thing until you have watched a rod tip get stepped on by a kid in crocs.
The 12.95 inch stake sits deeper than the short ones
The DZrudun stake is 12.95 inches of stainless steel with a tapered drill point, and the listing points out that it is longer than the common 9.5 inch stakes. On a soft pond bank that difference shows up right away. More steel underground means less wobble when a catfish decides to leave in a hurry. In hard packed clay or rock it is still work, and I say so further down.
The 360 degree horizontal swing aims the rod at your spot
You seat the holder in the ground, then swing the top around to point where you actually cast. That matters on a bank where the fish are not straight out in front of you. At my aunt's pond I turn mine toward the brush pile on the left, snug it down, and it holds that line all evening without me touching it again. No re-aiming every time the wind moves.
The 130 degree vertical tilt sets your tip height
A catfish rod on the bottom wants the tip up. A bobber rod for bluegill wants it a little flatter so the line lays right. The vertical adjustment covers 130 degrees, which is enough to stand the rod nearly straight up or lay it back close to the grass. I change mine between trips depending on which kid is fishing for what, and it takes a second.
Reinforced nylon takes the treatment kids give gear
The DZrudun holders are reinforced nylon, and mine have been dropped on gravel, rained on twice, stepped on by Ben, and buried under a tackle box in the Tahoe since March. Nothing has cracked or split. This is not a machined aluminum piece and I would not sell it to you as one, but I have not had to replace a single part of it either.
The stake is 12.95 inches of stainless steel. On soft pond bank it goes in like a nail into wet cardboard. On rock it is a chore, and I am not going to pretend otherwise.
Setup takes about ten seconds on soft ground
Find a soft spot, push the point in, lean on it once, and you are done. I can have both holders set while the kids are still arguing over the worm container. On the packed clay down at the reservoir it takes longer, and I have had to work the point around a rock or two before it would go. That is the honest version of setup, not the catalog version.
They take up less room than the tackle box
The listing gives 10.8 inches deep by 6.5 wide by 15.4 tall, so you know what you are making room for before you order. Two of them plus the pouch take up less space in the back of the Tahoe than my tackle box does, and they have lived back there from March to now without getting lost under the seats.
Two holders means two rods fishing at once
I have the 2 pack, which is two holders, and that fits how we fish from the bank. One rod out with a worm on the bottom for catfish, one rod under a bobber for whatever swims by, and I can watch both from a folding chair with a cup of coffee going cold beside me. If you only ever fish one rod, the single pack is plenty and I would not talk you into more.
You keep your hands free to coach a kid through a tangle
Ben is nine and his casts still loop sideways, so his line birds nests about once a trip. Fixing one takes both hands and a few minutes of patience. My own rod sitting safe in the holder is the difference between untangling it calmly and yanking line out one handed while my rod rolls slowly toward the water behind me.
The pouch keeps both holders together, with a one year warranty
The 2 pack comes with a storage pouch, which sounds like nothing until you have spent twenty minutes digging through the back of a truck for one holder. The listing also carries a one year warranty. Two holders, one pouch, both accounted for at the end of the night, which is more than I can say for the forked sticks we used to leave on the bank.
What I'd Skip
I would skip these if you fish from a wooden pier. There is nothing on a deck for the stake to bite into, so the DZrudun holders stay in the Tahoe on pier days and the rods lean on the rail instead. I would skip the 4 pack unless you truly fish four rods from the bank, because two is about what one adult can watch. I would skip them for rocky ground where you fight stone the whole way down, since that turns setup into a chore. And I would skip expecting a holder to cast for you, set a hook, or stop a big fish from dragging a rod in. It holds a rod steady in the mud. That is the job, and on soft bank it does the job.
Two rods out, both hands free, one less thing to hold
The DZrudun two pack and the pouch have lived in the back of my Tahoe since March. If you fish the bank with kids, that is the version I would get.
Amazon Check Today's Price on Amazon →