Adjustable holder apparatus for holding a trolling fishing rod in various upright orientations on a boat-mounted track. The apparatus includes a track-mounted base plate, a pivot bracket on the base plate, and a rod holder for detachably mounting and cantilever supporting the rod upright on the holder. A locking gear is fixed to the holder and pivotally secured to the bracket by a pivot pin for supporting the holder on the base plate for pivotal motion of the fishing rod for pivotally raising and lowering the rod. The gear has a circumferentially extending row of locking teeth arrayed in the holder pivot plane. A locking handle mechanism includes a locking pin bodily movable by the mechanism into and out of locking engagement with a selected root space between any two of the locking teeth for adjustably holding said holder in selected angularly spaced positions in the pivot plane.