Beach & Fishing Carts
Beach Carts & Fishing Carts are very popular with the beach & pier anglers in Florida. Fishing carts make wonderful companions for hauling your tackle, bait, and chumming supplies. Get all your gear in one trip, easily change fishing locations, and keep everything you need close at hand with these tough, handy and easy-rolling carts! And when you get back home, just wheel it into the garage and you will be ready for your next fishing trip.
WheelEEZ™ Beach/Surf Fishing Cart
WheelEEZ™ Dock/Pier Fishing Cart
There are all kinds of carts available with the best having inflatable pneumatic rubber tires or low-pressure balloon beach wheels. These wheels glide easily over the sand. Load your cart up with a cooler, tackle box, fishing rods, and off you go.
Homemade Fishing Cart Construction
Cart Base
You can easily make your own fishing cart. The simplest cart can be made using a dolly, a cooler with wheels, or even a child's wagon. Just use your imagination or visit a pier for some ideas.
For a more elaborate cart, you must first consider the base which is the foundation of you homemade cart. The base must be strong enough to hold all your gear. Aluminum, stainless steel, PVC, and wood are the popular choices. Do not use materials that will rust, especially if you will be saltwater fishing. Stainless steel screws and bolts are best, if your use any type other than stainless use a galvanized coating not zinc. Zip ties are fantastic for attaching rod or cup holders.
PVC that does not have all the joints glued words great for disassembling the cart for transportation and storage. Collapsible carts make storage and transportation easy. You can start your homemade cart with pre-made frames or dock carts, then add your rod holders, fillet station, and storage compartments.
Wheels & Tires
Choose wheels proportionate to the size of your cart and how you will use it.
The best wheels for hard/smooth surfaces such as fishing piers feature No-flat, PU foam tires.
For sand and other challenging terrain, low-pressure Balloon Beach Wheels are the best choice.
You can purchase a new set of either type and easily install them on your cart. We recommend the Wheeleez brand as they are by far the best on the market!
Rod Holders
Fishing rod holders are a must for your fishing cart. Pre-made rod holders are easily attached to the cart with stainless steel bolts & fly nuts or zip ties. This Wheeleez cart has the rod holder kit accessory attached, transforming a standard beach cart into a fishermans dream cart!
You can also make your own rod holders with PVC pipe and drill your own holes in it. Rod holders with end caps glued on can hold your umbrella. An umbrella is a must in the summer months to shade your cart and keeps your cooler and bait out of the sun.
See the images of fishing carts below for ideas on rod holder materials and placement on the carts.
 PVC rod holders attached to cooler |
 Attach rod holders with zip ties to a 5 gallon bucket |
Coolers & Bait Buckets
Every fishing cart needs a cooler and bait bucket. Keeping your bait alive is always a challenge, but a cooler or bait bucket with an air pump makes the job easier.
Battery operated portable air pumps in your bait bucket ensures your bait stays alive for the duration of your fishing trip. You can buy a pump/bucket combo unit or make your own by purchasing a portable battery operated unit and putting it into a cooler. Battery operated air units can be put in big coolers so you can bring more bait for a longer fishing day.
Check out these great fishing carts customized by anglers and get some ideas to modify yours. If you have a special cart, we would love to add your picture to our gallery, Click Here to upload your photo of your cart.
CPI Designs “Reels on Wheels” cart converted using the Wheeleez Fishing Cart Beach Conversion Kit.
This is a Berkeley Fishing Cart with the wheels replaced using the Wheeleez Fishing Cart Beach Conversion Kit.
The following 2 photos are of Florida's most famous fisherman, Larry Finch, nicknamed "The Fisherman". He has customized this big cart with inflatable pneumatic rubber tires. Sand fleas in the Styrofoam box with sand and damp towel on top of them. Notice the extra rod holder bank he added to the back. Larry travels around Florida educating anglers and surf fishing every chance he gets.
Florida's Most Famous Fisherman's Beach Cart - Larry Finch, "The Fisherman"
This PVC homemade fishing cart is a lot larger than the ones you buy in the store and cost $150 to make. Bottomfeeder of Pensacola Fishing Forum made this great cart. wp
Guy's homemade cart with 8-rod holders and balloon tires. wp
Get ideas on how to customize your fishing cart by visiting a fishing pier.
Rusty made this PVC fishing cart which features a fold out fillet table, room for a cooler and large bait bucket. See more pictures here. wp
Homemade Carts - www.surfishingflorida.com/Forum/
The Moonraker is a homemade cart by flyrod66 on the Pier & Surf Forum. This cart cost $30 to make and the wheels are from a junked Power Wheels Barbie jeep.
Hyo submitted his picture of his converted Red Folding Wagon from Sams Club. The cart is very functional with custom made 40 degree telescopic rod holders. It fits well in the trunk of a small car, since it is retractable.
Island fishing and camping! This custom cart holds quite a lot. Notice the surf rods, chairs, tent, cooler, and floating bait well.
Fishing carts that convert to seats.These custom made carts neatly stack all gear and have wheels on bottom for easy transport.
This cart holds chairs and his large shore fishing pole along with coolers and gear.
Fishing carts can be made using a heavy duty long handle hand truck or dolly.
Fishing carts made from grocery caddy with holders zip tied.
#1 Fishing cart made from a bag cooler with handle. #2 Fishing cart made from grocery caddy with zip tied holders.
#1 Fishing cart purchased but customized. #2 Fishing cart made from Portable Caddy.
#1 Fishing cart made from milk crate, see the wheels. #2 Front view of milk crate cart - see foot on front.
Huge homemade plywood cart in both pictures with rod holders, umbrella holder, space for chairs. The umbrella once opened will keep the cooler and bait out of the sun and cool.
This is one of our beach carts, not too fancy but it works. It cost $5.00 at a yard sale and we added the fishing pole holders on the back (not visible in this picture). The day of this picture we were hauling our beach gear to the boat.
Transporting lots of fishing poles to the beach is easy if you put fishing rod holders on the front of your truck.
This guy needs a fishing cart! Notice all the gear piled high in the back bed. He has a great rack on the back holding his coolers which he could easily use to transport his cart.
Idea! Convert these caddies into a custom fishing carts. The one with the table would be great for a fillet and working table, just change the wheels for beach mobility.
If you have a special cart, we would love to add your picture to our gallery, Wanted: diagrams or instructions on building a custom cart to share with our readers. Click Here to upload your photo of your cart.
