I met Wally Marshall opening weekend at the new Bass Pro in Garland and he talked me into getting his new Pro Series Rod Holder System. I installed it on my boat and tried it out on Fork this last weekend. It is top notch, seems really strong and works as advertised. I mounted it at the front of my boat where the carpet butts up to the fiberglass (Procraft bass boat) and have it setup to where 2 rods are on each side of the trolling motor. I had 2 10' crappie rods and 2 6' spinning rods in it and nothing ever got tangled and the rods are easy to pick up when you get a bite. Another good thing is that when you don't have it installed the little mounting block doesn't get in the way at all. If you're fishing in a pontoon boat where you have plenty of places to put rods you might not need it, but for a bass style boat it's perfect. You can sit in your chair and reach everything with no problems.

http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.T...t=SearchResults

Do they come in lefthanded variation as well?

I've been looking at getting the BeeReady rod holders for my bass boat but haven't yet. They sound very similar, are they, and what price range are they in? I live right down the road from the new BPS but haven't gone in yet, planning on that this weekend. Maybe I will pick one or two up.

I've never used the WM rod holders, but it would be very difficult for them to top the quality, reliability, and ease-of-use of the Bee Readys. In my opinion, the Bee Readys are the best rod holder on the market...period.

I've fished with a lot of rod holders, and have yet to find another product that is as easy to use as the Bee Readys.

Shoot, you might be right. I've never fished with a bee ready system. I just went over to the link in your message and looked at some of the ones installed on the boats. They look real nice but the one thing I saw is that all 4 holders are on a straight bar. The w m holders are all individual and you can point them in any direction and level the rods off at any height you want. I had my rods parallel to the water and had them pointed so that 2 were on one side of my (hand control that sticks up a bit) trolling motor and 2 were on the other side. That way I could move the boat and keep the lines going where I wanted. Still had plenty of room to work my ProControl handle with no problems. Not saying a thing bad about the bee ready. It might do the same thing. Just saying I'm very satisfied with the w m system.

WM is all plastic and the BR is nearly all metal. Price is about the same. Hummm....which one do you think would last longer and which one would break first?

Mike...the Bee Readys are all independent in their movement as well. You can rotate each rod holder independently 360 degrees. Another very cool feature is that the base is square, so you can troll out the front of the boat, or turn the entire rod holder system to the right or left for bottom fishing out the side of the boat. You can also purchase extra bases, and then just mount them anywhere on the boat you wish. This way, you can put your rod holders anywhere in the boat (front, back, side, whatever).

As SandSpike said, the Bee Readys are all stainless steel. They will outlast any other equipment in the boat...even the boat itself

Sounds like the Bee Ready is a really nice product. I don't work at Bass Pro and that's the first time I ever met Wally Marshall, just a fellow fisherman passing along a product review. I'm a 90% bass, 10% crappie fisherman so you probably use these products more in a year than I will in a lifetime. Still, I'm happy with it and hope it lasts a long time.

Wally has some pretty good stuff out right now. I havent used Wally's rod holders , but I am pleased with the Bee Ready's though. They are nearly industructable, wont rust, or corrode. They store away very easily without taking up much room. Any time I have customers that are using more than one rod I insist they use the bee ready's. I have caught lots of crappie and hybrid striper using the holders.
I am not saying Wally's stuff isnt as good or better, I just havent tried them.