Ya I forgot to mention that. We usually have the buckets filled with water or a couple of rocks. Also, in thefirst picture, the bail is closed on the reel - this is not a good thing! You're supposed to have the bail open so the fish can run with the line after the strike.

She's pretty tough. She has spent quite a bit of time with me outdoors and is starting to be able to take some abuse from mother nature finally. She spent a week with me fishing on a pier on Lake Michigan for a tourney, we had some pretty serious weather come through and she stayed with me after I gave her a chance to leave. And just for the record, the bucket was originally for me, but after she saw it, it was claimed for her use only .

I always took a piece of PVC pipe about three feet long and pounded it into the ground to hold my striper rod. I would then hook a bell to the rod tip. what you have there should work about the same way I would think.

Yep, same idea in principle, a rod holder and a bell to detect/indicate strikes.The nice thing about this is that you can't fish even in places where you can pound a rod holder into the ground. Places like rocky shorelines and piers are easy to fish now, and you can hold your bait in the bucket. So changing over bait after catchin a fish is real quick and you can get your rod back into the water fast.

And if anyone is interested in the little bell setup, lemme know and I might be able to get you a couple.