Fishing From A Wheelchair

Extra Notes and a Little About Me

I guess I should introduce myself. I don’t like talking about myself much, so I’ll keep it brief. My name is Bruce Homis. In 1988, I was involved in an automobile accident in which I broke three vertebrae in my neck. The injury damaged my spinal cord and left me as a C5 quadriplegic. Life goes on.

Prior to my injury, my favorite activity was fishing. One of my goals after returning home from the hospital was to find a way to get back into fishing. In 1991, I got the idea for this apparatus. With the help of my brother, a neighbor, and an occupational therapist, we were able to make my idea a reality. As crazy and unconventional as it might look, it seriously works.

I am lucky enough to live only two miles away from Connetquot River State Park on Long Island. I am in the park very often, fly fishing for rainbow, brown, and brook trout. I have fished the St. Lawrence River with this apparatus and caught northern pike, largemouth bass, and sunfish. I’ve been lucky enough to travel to Lake of the Woods, in northwestern Ontario. There, I’ve caught northern pike, smallmouth bass, walleye, sauger, perch, and had a few close encounters with a some muskie. I also fish in the waters off the south shore of Long Island and have caught fluke, bluefish, seabass, and porgy.

My reason for introducing this fishing apparatus to everyone on the Internet is in hope that I can help someone who may have a similar injury as I do, and has a desire to go fishing. I am not looking to profit from this idea.

This apparatus works wonderfully for me, but I cannot guarantee that it will work well for others. No two spinal cord injuries are alike.

You do not have to design and build this apparatus exactly as I have. I’m sure alternate approaches will work just as well. You will have to tailor it to your needs.

If you find this web site to be helpful, or you like it enough to try building the apparatus for yourself or someone else, I would love to hear from you.

I do not claim to be, in any way, an expert in spinal cord injuries. My knowledge of quadriplegia is limited to my own spinal cord injury. I also do not claim to be, in any way, an expert on occupational therapy or physical therapy. My knowledge of occupation therapy and physical therapy is limited to my time spent as a patient.

Special Thanks:

My brother, Craig Homis, PT, for his time, patience, and insight in fine tuning and repairing the apparatus as necessary
A former neighbor of mine, Bill Lewis, for doing much of the necessary woodwork on the reel mount
OT, Diane Fine, and PT, John Pierce, for their assistance in building the splints

Designed, Hosted, and Maintained by Sportsman's Resource, Inc.