Sand Spike...It's a spike in the sand.

Heading to Florida again tomorrow morning.  This time we'll be on the Atlantic coast just south of St. Augustine with a bunch of friends.

I plan on doing some surf fishing and maybe some pier fishing while I'm there.  I've purchased a non-resident license for saltwater (didnt need it for the pier I was on in Destin), and depending on how things go, may buy a new and inexpensive rod to use.

The 2 rods that I've borrowed from my friend are made for boat fishing.  They're pretty compact, clocking in a hair over 6' long.  My bass rod is also pretty short.  It'd be nice to have something I can throw out a little further.

For this trip I've built some sand spikes to put my poles in to wait on a bite.  Total cost was around $15 for 4 of them, and I found a lovely how to guide online and went to town!  I also plan on using 2 or more of these to make a lean-to from a tarp for some shade when I'm not using them for fishing.  Its just a matter of dropping a bungee cord down to catch the bolt inside and attaching it to the grommets in a tarp.  Should be about 4 feet off the ground so it'll make a nice place to sit.


The Build:

I took a 10' piece of 1.5" pvc, marked it at the halfway point and drew a sharp angle centered on the line.  This makes a nice point for each spike to penetrate the sand more easily.

I then cleaned up the sawed edges and drilled a hole 12" from the uncut end.  You'll want to put a 1/4" diameter 2.5" long bolt through here to act as a pole stop.  I used a machine screw, lock washer, and nut.  Our drill is out on loan to a friend, so I used my solder gun to melt the holes for the screws...not an ideal method, but I was determined to get this done all at once.  When working with heat and plastic, please remember to be careful and have proper ventilation.

After installing the bolt, I heated up the rod end with my gas stove (a torch works too) and pressed it down on a wine bottle (beer bottles probably have a better shape) to flare the tip.  This will make it easier to put your rod in and frankly just looks better.

And the finished product, which I now have 4 of.  You can sink this a foot or two into the sand and angle it slightly towards the ocean so your rod/reel swivel in the right direction.