Fish stringer holder

A device for restraining a fish stringer, said device including:

• A. an L-shaped frame having a base plate and a shoulder plate perpendicular to said base plate;
• B. jaw means for engagement of a flexible line of a fish stringer against said shoulder plate, said jaw means being pivotally mounted on said base plate in position to move on an arc approximately tangent to said shoulder plate in a first direction away from said shoulder plate, said jaw means approaching said shoulder plate at least as closed as the thickness of the fish stringer to be restrained;
• C. cover means including a cover parallel to and spaced from said base plate and movable between a closed position wherein said shoulder plate and said jaw means are covered and an open position wherein said shoulder plate and a portion of said jaw means adjacent said shoulder plate are uncovered, thus effectively obstructing removal of the fish stringer from between said jaw means and said shoulder plate in direction perpendicular to the plane of said base plate when said cover means is in said closed position;
• D. mounting means attached to said frame for mounting said frame to an object;
• E. said cover means including means for locking said cover in its closed position, said cover means including a retainer button hole provided in said cover and a retainer button slidably mounted with respect to said base plate, together with resilient means urging said retainer button in direction to enter said retainer button hole when said cover is moved to its closed position;
• F. bias means operative to urge said jaw means in said first direction and to urge said cover means to move said cover to its open position;
• and
• G. said mounting means including stem means on said base plate sized to cooperatively associate with a provided vertical hole in a gunwale of a boat.