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I currently have 2 Penn 30 VSW and 2 Penn 30TWs for shark fishing set up on stand up rods with very short butts that don't work in my chair. The boys are getting to the age where we can get out there and need some advice on using longer butt or bent butt rods in the chair.

Personally .... it's all about standup gear ... get a good belt/plate combo . and safety lines for the rods .. leave the chair at home

I have this one , and like it a lot .. we use them on Giant Bluefin with spinning rods

https://www.blackmagictackle.com/produc ... bal-belts/

having said that .. do you have detachable butts? you could(I would guess) jsut swap them out for longer butts

I've got plenty of stand up belts and harnesses. But I have a nice chair on the boat and boys 6 and 9, I think they'll be much more comfortable and safe in the chair. Slick butts on two rods so I can't swap butts, the other two have very short EVA rear grips.

I brought my kids up in a bucket style harness and a fighting chair.
Both my kids were fighting fish two and three times there size with that system

You can use fairly short rods when incorporating a flip style gimbal. We used 5'6" rods all the time. Tricks is someone has to drive the boat. Dead boats and fighting chairs end with poor results.

The chair adds safety and really helps build the kids confidence and technique, the same principles will be carried over to stand up fishing when they get older

JP Dalik wrote:I brought my kids up in a bucket style harness and a fighting chair.
Both my kids were fighting fish two and three times there size with that system

You can use fairly short rods when incorporating a flip style gimbal. We used 5'6" rods all the time. Tricks is someone has to drive the boat. Dead boats and fighting chairs end with poor results.

The chair adds safety and really helps build the kids confidence and technique, the same principles will be carried over to stand up fishing when they get older

Thanks JP I knew you'd have a good answer for me. My gimbal does flip and come to think of it I believe there is a pin with 3 positions. My guess is the two rods with slick butts will be no problem but the other two I think the handle is going to hit their leg. I will bring them down to the boat over the weekend with the rods and test it out. At worst I may need two new rods.

Also should i spring for a C&H buckt harness or is it ok to use my Braid without the belt?

I've always thought the full bucket harness worked best. We are still using an old hard backed Murray bros. piece.
the nice thing is you can put a loop under the harness to the chair. While it is not igfa legal it adds some safety while the kids get used to using their back and legs to fight fish.

Good luck

noted thank you