One handed fishing for disabled? Any ideas?

[coppercarbide]

Hey all, looking for a bit of help from the AO collective knowledge banks. Bit of a niche request, but hopefully someone on here can weigh in.

My father, a lifelong outdoors man, had a stroke in August. He lost a fair bit of mental capacity, but is definitely still with it enough to want to get out and do some things. We are struggling with keeping him occupied and positive now that he can't work anymore. He can walk, but has completely lost the use of one arm.

We used to go fishing all the time, and I'd really like to continue that, so I'm looking for suggestions on a one-handed fishing setup.

I've spent a fair bit of time looking for such a beast, and have found numerous positive reviews of a company called "Elec-tra-mate", this model looks to do what I'm looking for: http://launchmm.com/electramateshop/...roducts_id=251

I'm wondering, has anyone used anything like this? Can anyone suggest any other options I might want to look at? I've never really known anyone with only one arm, so any tips here would be absolutely fantastic and much appreciated.

Thanks in advance guys.

[Redfrog]

Having a stroke is tough. I hope your dad improves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob5QHcCGR_g

[dalray]

I have a buddy that had a motorcycle accident and is paralizon one arm only. He.made a chest rig to fit the butt of the rod in and a strap so it doesnt fall too far forward. He cam cast and reel but does require help to.get the rig on. He also figured out how to face rc cars with one hand. Good luck in your findings. Its 2012 almost 13. Technology these days anything is possible.

[Zanzibar]

An old plastic motorcycle chest protector, with a rod holder attached to it would be pretty easy to rig up. Just jig and set the hook with his good hand, until he gets one on, and then transfer the rod to the holder and reel the fish in.

[B_Type13X2]

have you considered an orthotic device to assist him with holding the rod? I'm a double amputee myself (below the knees), and have always found the people at alberta artificial limb located in calgary to be very helpful. If you tell them what you want they will make it for him. When I wanted to snowboard they made me custom bindings, when a friend wanted to take up archery they made her a custom arm to hold the bow. Whatever you think you want to do they will work with you to make it happen. Also if you need help with any ADL stuff which will help cover about 80% of the cost of the device I'll point you in the right direction. Navigating through the bureaucracy is often more problematic then actually losing the limb.

If you'd like their number shoot me a PM and I'll give you their contact information.

[Gust]

How much strength does he have in his good arm? Any limitations with the good arm,,,? What types of reels is he comfortable with? Which arm is his good arm? Do you want a set up for both ice and summer? What type of fish does he usually target? Whereabouts are you?

[coppercarbide]

Originally Posted by Redfrog

Having a stroke is tough. I hope your dad improves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob5QHcCGR_g

I've seen that guy, pretty awesome story! Thanks for the kind words.

Originally Posted by dalray

I have a buddy that had a motorcycle accident and is paralizon one arm only. He.made a chest rig to fit the butt of the rod in and a strap so it doesnt fall too far forward. He cam cast and reel but does require help to.get the rig on. He also figured out how to face rc cars with one hand. Good luck in your findings. Its 2012 almost 13. Technology these days anything is possible.

I went and googled some chest rigs, looks like that would definitely be a possibility. I'm torn between trying an auto-reeling rod or a chest rig, but it seems we could try both and see what works better for him.

Originally Posted by Gust

How much strength does he have in his good arm? Any limitations with the good arm,,,? What types of reels is he comfortable with? Which arm is his good arm? Do you want a set up for both ice and summer? What type of fish does he usually target? Whereabouts are you?

His good arm is his left hand and he was right handed, so he doesn't quote have the dexterity (yet) that you would have in a primary arm. I think that'll improve though.
We've always fished with spincast reels, I don't think he's ever used anything else.
I'd definitely be looking for a winter and summer setup. If they are two different setups, that's fine. I was thinking the motor-reel could be attached to a summer rod, then removed and attached to an ice-rod (or a some other modified shorty rod) in the winter. I think the chest rig setup could definitely work, I'm going to have to do some more research into that.
We normally look for pike/perch in the winter, and walleye/pike/perch in the summer. We live and Edmonton and hit up Wab quite a bit (it's close and most of the time we're looking for C&R anyway). Both of the pictures below are from Wab in the last year, I'm hoping to get a few to add to my 2013 Fishing albumn.

B-Type, I'll PM you.

Thanks all for your help!

[Zanzibar]

Your Dad looks way to young to be sitting and watching things happen around him. After seeing him, I thought of a new and improved rig for him. Instead of the rod holder being on his chest, make one that has a belt for his waist. It would still work the same as the original idea, with the added bonus of being able to jig and set the hook with some pretty funky hip action! The way he was smiling in both of your pictures made me think he might get a kick out of the hip jigger.

[canamdon]

Hello,

I use to run our family's medical supply company.

Try these links:

http://www.adaptiveoutdoorsman.com

http://www.sheltonproducts.com/handicap.html

http://www.abledata.com/abledata.cfm...9327&top=12933

Good luck and Health and Prosperity to ALL this upcoming Christmas Season!

Don.

[Gilligan]

I dont know much more than this but....

I saw a program where a one armed fella had the rod strapped to his
thigh while he was sitting down. So it was an extention of his leg
from the hip to knee. He lifted his knee from the sitting position to
take up slack just as you would lift a rod tip up to pull on any fighter.
Then reel with his hand on the way back down. I thought the guy
did as good as any with this set up. A short ice fishing rod would
be real easy to set up. I'm thinking a couple of straps / buckle type
would work to secure the rod to his thigh.

hope this works.....

*** see you on the ice ***

[Willowtrail]

Originally Posted by coppercarbide

Hey all, looking for a bit of help from the AO collective knowledge banks. Bit of a niche request, but hopefully someone on here can weigh in.

My father, a lifelong outdoors man, had a stroke in August. He lost a fair bit of mental capacity, but is definitely still with it enough to want to get out and do some things. We are struggling with keeping him occupied and positive now that he can't work anymore. He can walk, but has completely lost the use of one arm.

We used to go fishing all the time, and I'd really like to continue that, so I'm looking for suggestions on a one-handed fishing setup.

I've spent a fair bit of time looking for such a beast, and have found numerous positive reviews of a company called "Elec-tra-mate", this model looks to do what I'm looking for: http://launchmm.com/electramateshop/...roducts_id=251

I'm wondering, has anyone used anything like this? Can anyone suggest any other options I might want to look at? I've never really known anyone with only one arm, so any tips here would be absolutely fantastic and much appreciated.

Thanks in advance guys.

Send a PM and do some research on GarryB on this forum. He and his family have created some pretty awesome tools to help him fish.

[Okotokian]

Tenkara. fly-like rod, short line, no reel. He can cast and catch with one hand. May need some help landing the fish though.

[snubber]

Something I tried last year when I was ice fishing for perch. I put a pen into the chuck of a cordless drill,spooled on 20ft of line and my lure on and I was also using my down hole camara lowered it so I could see it on the cam and when I got a bite pinner in forward. Worked pretty good.

[coppercarbide]

Thanks to all of you folks for your extremely helpful and encouraging comments.

I found a good manufacturer for an auto-reel type system, oriented mainly towards summer fishing but will likely work well with winter fishing too. However, it's a bit pricey, so we're going to wait a little while longer before ordering it.

In the meantime, I did what any self-respecting redneck would do, I grabbed a beer and headed out the garage to see what ridiculous-looking thing I could come up with.

Started with snubbers excellent idea of using a drill, ripped apart a tip-up and figured out how to make it work with the drill (only one answer there... zip ties), and voila, I rednecked myself a one-handed ice-fishing rod.

Going to take him out tomorrow, Wab or Cross or something close (I'll save the drive out to "Lake X" for another time, haha). Anyway, thanks again, I'll post some pictures if the rig works!

[B_Type13X2]

Originally Posted by coppercarbide

Thanks to all of you folks for your extremely helpful and encouraging comments.

I found a good manufacturer for an auto-reel type system, oriented mainly towards summer fishing but will likely work well with winter fishing too. However, it's a bit pricey, so we're going to wait a little while longer before ordering it.

In the meantime, I did what any self-respecting redneck would do, I grabbed a beer and headed out the garage to see what ridiculous-looking thing I could come up with.

Started with snubbers excellent idea of using a drill, ripped apart a tip-up and figured out how to make it work with the drill (only one answer there... zip ties), and voila, I rednecked myself a one-handed ice-fishing rod.

Going to take him out tomorrow, Wab or Cross or something close (I'll save the drive out to "Lake X" for another time, haha). Anyway, thanks again, I'll post some pictures if the rig works!

I'm glad you found a solution, although you may still want to look into an orthotic device for the other area's of his life he might be missing out on.

[Dacotensis]

copper,
has Skidderman contacted you yet?
You guys may want to talk as he would have some insight on this.
Maybe shoot him a pm and explain the situation.
Dac

[slivers86]

What about a mounted ice rod (for winter) on the side of a chair so that he could reel with his functional hand? Long shot but perhaps a custom job could be done

[coppercarbide]

Success! Took snubbers idea to use a drill, mounted it to a part of tip-up. Ended up working awesome. The tip-up already has the line guides so you don't have to worry about reeling it off the spool. Plus it has a bit of length so you get the 'leverage' effect on a bite, makes it a lot easier to feel.

Went out to Nakamun on the 31st. Had a really good time, Dad was really happy to get out (first time he's been out fishing since the stroke, so happy doesn't quite describe it).
Definitely wish there was a few more fish, had the typical 'Alberta Lake' day with a couple small ones. However, that certainly wasn't the point of the excursion and would have just been icing on the cake. Going to have to take him for a drive further North now that he's comfortable going out.

Thanks all for the help!

[Wild&Free]

Originally Posted by coppercarbide

Success! Took snubbers idea to use a drill, mounted it to a part of tip-up. Ended up working awesome. The tip-up already has the line guides so you don't have to worry about reeling it off the spool. Plus it has a bit of length so you get the 'leverage' effect on a bite, makes it a lot easier to feel.

Went out to Nakamun on the 31st. Had a really good time, Dad was really happy to get out (first time he's been out fishing since the stroke, so happy doesn't quite describe it).
Definitely wish there was a few more fish, had the typical 'Alberta Lake' day with a couple small ones. However, that certainly wasn't the point of the excursion and would have just been icing on the cake. Going to have to take him for a drive further North now that he's comfortable going out.

Thanks all for the help!

[Zanzibar]

That's pretty cool!

[Smokercraft]

Originally Posted by coppercarbide

Success! Took snubbers idea to use a drill, mounted it to a part of tip-up. Ended up working awesome. The tip-up already has the line guides so you don't have to worry about reeling it off the spool. Plus it has a bit of length so you get the 'leverage' effect on a bite, makes it a lot easier to feel.

Went out to Nakamun on the 31st. Had a really good time, Dad was really happy to get out (first time he's been out fishing since the stroke, so happy doesn't quite describe it).
Definitely wish there was a few more fish, had the typical 'Alberta Lake' day with a couple small ones. However, that certainly wasn't the point of the excursion and would have just been icing on the cake. Going to have to take him for a drive further North now that he's comfortable going out.

Thanks all for the help!

I was in the goup of guys (myslef, my dad, my buddy and his two young boys) next to you on New Years Eve.

I'd noticed that rig you put together for your dad and we were talking about what a cool idea that was to keep your dad doing what he clearly loves.

The time and effort you took both before getting on the ice and while fishing with your dad was pretty awesome to see in person. You made damn sure he was as comfortable as possible and had a great time.

Both my dad and I commented on the way home how great it must make your dad feel to know he's got a son who will go the extra mile for him to so he can keep a line in the water. Then again, your dad must have had a hand in raising you that way.

Great job and I hope to see you and you're dad out there again. Next time I'll come by and say hi.

[Paul C]

Well done..cool idea

[coppercarbide]

Ah, right on! Sorry I wasn't too social that day, bit distracted I guess (not a good excuse, I know). Normally I'll wander with an extra beer in hopes of getting some 'fishing intelligence' (and of course to meet other fishermen), haha.

Heard you guys talking about going to call a coyote across the lake, did you end up connecting with anything out there? (maybe that was the folks on the other side of us that said that, can't remember) Pretty perfect day for it if you could find a place within range to hide.

My dad was pretty happy at the end of the day for sure, but yes, you are right, I've told him many times that the reason I am who I am is because he raised me to be like that. I have the same thoughts on how to raise kids, do the same thing for a living that he did, I even drink the same brand of scotch... stuff like that doesn't happen by coincidence, hahaha. I took my 2 1/2 year old daughter out to catch some perch over xmas, and got merely a small sliver of what he went through teaching 3 boys to fish, quad, and be outdoors. Hell, it's definitely not all for him either, I love fishing with my dad and this lets me do that! haha.

I spent some time yesterday in the garage looking at some other options, including some of the ones suggested by members in this thread and via pm. Prototype 2 is in the works... but he really really liked the drill, might close the season out with that.

Originally Posted by Smokercraft

I was in the goup of guys (myslef, my dad, my buddy and his two young boys) next to you on New Years Eve.

I'd noticed that rig you put together for your dad and we were talking about what a cool idea that was to keep your dad doing what he clearly loves.

The time and effort you took both before getting on the ice and while fishing with your dad was pretty awesome to see in person. You made damn sure he was as comfortable as possible and had a great time.

Both my dad and I commented on the way home how great it must make your dad feel to know he's got a son who will go the extra mile for him to so he can keep a line in the water. Then again, your dad must have had a hand in raising you that way.

Great job and I hope to see you and you're dad out there again. Next time I'll come by and say hi.

[Red Neck]

My dad is my fishing partner and through tragity come the human spirit of goodness, even in us red necks.I fish for the momments not the fish, but it is even better when the two happen at the same time. Hope to see you and your dad out around the locall water holes maybe even lake X.

Red Neck Out

[Smokercraft]

We were the guys on the other side, not the cyote hunters.

Good luck with prototype #2!

Originally Posted by coppercarbide

Ah, right on! Sorry I wasn't too social that day, bit distracted I guess (not a good excuse, I know). Normally I'll wander with an extra beer in hopes of getting some 'fishing intelligence' (and of course to meet other fishermen), haha.

Heard you guys talking about going to call a coyote across the lake, did you end up connecting with anything out there? (maybe that was the folks on the other side of us that said that, can't remember) Pretty perfect day for it if you could find a place within range to hide.

My dad was pretty happy at the end of the day for sure, but yes, you are right, I've told him many times that the reason I am who I am is because he raised me to be like that. I have the same thoughts on how to raise kids, do the same thing for a living that he did, I even drink the same brand of scotch... stuff like that doesn't happen by coincidence, hahaha. I took my 2 1/2 year old daughter out to catch some perch over xmas, and got merely a small sliver of what he went through teaching 3 boys to fish, quad, and be outdoors. Hell, it's definitely not all for him either, I love fishing with my dad and this lets me do that! haha.

I spent some time yesterday in the garage looking at some other options, including some of the ones suggested by members in this thread and via pm. Prototype 2 is in the works... but he really really liked the drill, might close the season out with that.

[Jack&7]

Originally Posted by coppercarbide

I spent some time yesterday in the garage looking at some other options, including some of the ones suggested by members in this thread and via pm. Prototype 2 is in the works... but he really really liked the drill, might close the season out with that.

CC....

I smell an invention in the works. We'll probably see you on Dragon's Den next year.

First rule of inventing:

See a need....fill a need.

You're on your way...

Good luck.

[kevinhits]

This is what AO is about....

This is truly a great story and helping others out when they need it the most...

The posters on here are awsome in my opinion...

I wish I could help but no experience in this...Sorry

[grant59]

There used to be an automatic fly real that used a spring to retrieve your line. You could reset tension on it at any time and the fish worked against the spring until landed
maybee one of these set up for ice or troll would do the trick, It had a lever you hit to retrieve so it didn't suck your line in all the time

[Hunter Trav]

Nice work on getting your dad out with your ingenuity. Really awesome that your able to do that for him, hope your able to get him out as much as possible this winter!!!