Without a doubt, our swivel base rod holder is the "Ultimate Rod Holder" for the serious sportsman. Primarily designed to be used with bent butt tackle, the rod holders unique swivel base allows the rod butt to rotate in the rod holder when side pressure is applied to the tip of the rod. This is an indispensable tool, especially important in Giant Blue Fin Tuna fishing, where reel drags in the neighborhood of 60 pounds are frequently used and can result in tremendous forces being applied to the rod holder pin. Not only does this make sheared rod holder pins a thing of the past but, more importantly, it allows the tip of the rod to follow the fish. This reduces the possibility of line fraying and enhanced drag as the line streams sideways out of the roller tip instead of over the roller. The rod is also more easily removed from the holder since it is not locked on a rigid pin. The swivel base holder functions as a standard rod holder when used with straight butt rods. Straight butt rods can be manually rotated so that the line remains on the tip's roller. The amount of torque required to rotate the swivel is set by adjusting the pressure on two nylon drag washers with a 1/2 inch brass lock nut at the bottom of the rod holder.