While fishing several years ago in the faint light of sunrise, I watched shore fishers performing what I now call the "Shoreline Shuffle." They would roll their carts down the beach, find the perfect spot, and walk their rod holders down to the water. Then came the endless back-and-forth: back to the cart for rods, back for bait, then back for coffee. When a fish finally bit, the chaos truly began—a frantic run to the dry sand to set down their coffee, a sprint back to the water to reel in the line, then another dash to the cart for pliers. After removing the hook, it was back to the cart to throw the fish in the cooler, drop off the pliers, and grab more bait.

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Watching that cycle of "bait, cast, run, repeat," I knew there had to be a better way. I found rod holders with tiny prep surfaces or small compartments, but nothing that actually solved the problem.

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Later that night, the Reel Buddy® was born.

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The first run of Reel Buddys was handmade out of wood using a single hand router, seven different router bits and a single drill press that had to be constantly adjusted.  Originally, I just made them for friends who enjoyed surf fishing, but as other anglers noticed them on the shoreline, the requests started pouring in. Soon, I was running seven routers with seven bits and 5 drill presses.

 

Over the years, the business has grown from small hobby CNCs into a medium-scale industrial operation. We are Veteran-owned and proudly manufacture our products in America using globally sourced materials.