Some of the most common obstacles facing crews these days revolve around using, storing and caring for dredges and the rods and reels we use to deploy and retrieve them. Pulling dredges is a must these days, and they require a pretty big investment and a bit of know-how to operate properly.
But storing and protecting these necessary tools when not in use creates quite a challenge. To solve this problem, a good friend of mine built some custom cradles for my rigs out of ½-inch Starboard. With this setup, we just remove the butt from the rod and set the reel into the cradle. The weight of the reel keeps the rig in place. The cradle is screwed down to the deck, and you can modify it to fit any reel.
