About to try spider rigging.

Went to Academy's web site and saw they had a rod sale going on. I saw they had the 12ft Slab Shakers on sale for $17.99 online. I looked on their weekly sale ad and they had some hot deals on rods. I went to the store to see if they had any in stock. They were out of the shakers but had the 12ft. Tournament choice on sale for $12.99. So I bought 4. One of them even had a reel on it like a mini solo reel. Not bad for a $1.00 a foot. I rigged them with some old spinning reels I had for my boys when they were young. I am close to getting ready to try my hand at that spider rigging yall have been talking about. Next purchase is rod holders. So far I am in it for about $60 with the purchase of new line for my old reels. Next project is to make a set of rod holders for my boat. A buddy of mine has a tube bender and a threader. He told me he has been wanting to make some too. Looks like in a few weeks I will be set. My goal is to learn with these 4 and move up to 8 poles. My next 4 will be probably 14 footers. Any input and advice sure would be appreciated. Would a set of holders work made with galvanized conduit.

Sounds like a heck of a bargain to me.

Yes they will. Just about anything you can come up with that will hold them and let you adjust them will work. Be warned though that you have just opened the door to another money pit:Rofl

I would just get comfortable with four rods. I personally would wait til I had the feel for the technique before graduating to the 14'. Just my two cents. I absolutely love spider rigging and have just about quit playing golf and duck hunting. It takes patience and a lot of practice. Very easy if you do it right. It is very easy to tangle up all of the lines. Or a goo or far fish swimming thru your lines ! I would offer any help to you that I can. I learn something new everyday. Good luck.

I agree with getdanet. 12' rods can be tough enough. I fish longer rods but they are tougher than 12s. And when I fish 12', 14', and 16' together, I seem to catch just as many on the 12'ers as the others. If I'm fishing by myself, and I'm around any stumps, or if the fish are biting, I just fish 6 rods no matter how many holders I have.

Good luck sauté , sounds like you have a good plan going !

Thanks oh I plan to crawl before I run......lol. I was looking online and found Driftmaster 18in holders for $29.99 and 24's for $49.99. Thats cheaper than I can build out of galvanized pipe. I already have conduit 3/4 inch conduit. But by the time I buy Ts end caps, floor bases and hangers to hook the individual holders there isn't much savings over the 18inch model. Is there a big difference between an 18in and 24in holder. I am installing on an Alumacraft 165 pro with a tiller handle trolling motor. I don't want to crowd the front too much.

hey saute'. I love to spider rig. I agree that under probably 95% of situations 12 footers will do the trick. I can't comment on the driftmasters. I have hi-teks. holler if ya need any info.

doc :)

I have spider rigged maybe 4 times....I have the driftmaster 24" bar....it came with 4 pole holders.....like this one....

http://www.basspro.com/Driftmaster-T...CROSSSELL_DEPT

also have the Rod Rester ....see here..

http://www.basspro.com/Driftmaster-R...SSSELL_PRODUCT

sometimes when fishing with shiners I like to set 2 poles out and fish with one in my hand.....the 24" bar is too long so I cut a wood dowel about 15" and put 2 holders on it.....I bought a 14 ft pole for rigging but just don't see the need for one that long....heck, in south Louisiana that will nearly reach across the bayou.....I have used two 10 ft poles and two bass rods of different lengths for sac fishing (trolling).....course, I am by no means an expert on this but it seemed to work ......I would start with what ever poles you have and figure out what you think will work for you....

The Driftmasters are very well made....really rugged...

Hey Saute... here is a link to some rod holders that i came up with for my 16 ft alumacraft... They worked fine, only reason i stopped using em was because i was lucky enough to win the set of driftmasters here on crappie.com.

http://www.crappie.com/crappie/showt...-rigging-setup

total cost was less about 30 bucks i think... also.. i wouldn't recommend setting up for any more than 4 rods out of the front of the boat. any more than that is just too much for a lake like toledo bend. (you will have 3-4 fish on at a time with 4 rods... any more rods than that = epics tangles & lots of lost fish)

they were super easy to make. hope it helps.. holler at me if you need any other help.

... heck if i still had these i would give em to you, but gave em to a fishing buddy that put em on his boat.

also your 12 foot rods will work great.. i bought 4 of the extendable type rods (2 12's and 2 10's and it has worked great for me)