Jump to content

Bert's vs Big Jon's ratcheting rod holders


Gill-T

Recommended Posts

Chad,

I have Big Jons on my boat and have used Bert Ratcheting rod holders on my buddies boat. The ratcheting feature is nice on the Berts. The big Jons are built strong and are very high quality. I think either one would work for you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Like my berts but keep an eye on the e clips that hold the ratchet lever stuff together. They will come off if moorings, net or line snag them by accident. It's slightly vulnerable to that. Lost one of the plastic rod protector caps, I recommend glueing them on to help keep them on when pulling a rod. Haven't tried big john.

Mark

[ Post made via Android ] Android.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have been using Berts ratchet rod holders for several seasons primarily as my dipsey rod holders. The newer designs are a lot more bullet proof than the older models. The company is reel good about replacing any holders that I have had problems with for no charge. The biggest problem I had with the older models is that they wouldn't stay in the vertical array. Not a problem at all with the newer models.

What I like about them the best is that using the ratchet feature, my clients can get the rod vertical and then out of the rod holder with ease. A lot of my clients are hands on and like to go for the rods themselves. I 've had kids able to ratchet up the rod in the holder and get the rod out to fight the fish. As many of you know, getting the dipsy rod out of a fixed horizontal holder with a screeming king on is no easy task and requires a lot of strentgh and time to get the rod out to a verticle position, especially for the inexperienced. I have had instances where a dipsy took off during a double or a triple and all I had to do was reach over and lift up the berts to a verticle postion. If I had to I could just leave it there until someone could get to it and take the rod out. Of course the drag has to be set correctly. I also have Big Jons on my christmas trees. I did have one loosen up (the bolt inside) but was able to tighten it up with no further issues.

I highly recommend the Bert's for dipsy applications and the big jons for more of a fixed type of application like board rods.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...