If Dragonspeed's rod holder building demonstration yesterday could have been filmed Red Green would buy the rights to use it in his show.
Dragonspeed started off with a 5' piece of angle iron, a piece of pvc pipe, some duct tape and a hack saw. He then proceeded to cut it down to 4'. After the first cut he was already perspiring and breathing quite heavily. We all gave him a hard time and he said that as a network admin the small finger exercises were not enough to keep him in shape. DS was almost ready to give up when he found out two more cuts were required to make a sharp point at one end. But he perservered and continued to saw away.
Now the real entertainment began. DS produced a 1" diam pvc pipe and someone said "Are you sure the rod butt will fit in that tiny pipe?" Sure enough it was too small and the laughter continued. Then the search began for an alternate to the pipe. Fortunately, Canoeman had beans for breakfast and the rod holder was finally completed by duct taping the bean can to the angle iron.
On a more serious note, hose clamps work really well instead of duct tape for the design that Chris suggested. That is how I built my holder and it works really well. You can get the parts for under $10 at Home Depot.