How Many Rods?

[papajoe222]

How may rods do you keep on your boat’s deck and, more importantly, what’s tied on them?

I keep a minimum of five:

Jig rod, 7’3” MH Fast  DaiwaFuego 30lb. Braid

Worm/Tube rod 6’6”Med Fast DaiwaSol 12lb. Fluoro

Cranking rod 7’6” Med. Mod  DaiwaSol 10lb. Mono

Cranking rod 7’3” MH Mod/Fast Daiwa TD Advantage  12lb. Fluoro

Topwater rod  6’6” Med  DaiwaSol (6.3:1)  20lb. Mono

If I’ll be fishing by myself, I’ll add two more:

C-Rig rod 7’ MH/Fast DaiwaFuego 30lb.Braid/12lb.Mono leader

Buzzbait/Frog rod 7’MH/Fast  Lew’s 7.1:1 60lb. Braid

I don’t carry a spinner bait specific rod. 

[Scott F]

It all depends on what’s working for where I’m at. I just came back from a trip where depending on where on the lake we were fishing, what I had on the deck changed. I had a jerkbait on the deck at all times for the entire 2 weeks of the trip. For the rest of the summer, I’ll be river fishing and I’ll probably not tie on a jerkbait the rest of the year. On days when we were fishing for largemouth, I’d have a Senko on one rod and a Whopper Plopper on another and a Ned Rig on a third. When we switched to smallies, it would be an LC Pointer, a Ned Rig and a topwater. Over a two week period, there were no other baits needed to catch tons of fish. 

[38 Super Fan]

I hate carrying a lot of rods, especially on deck. 6 is a typical number for me, 5 is better. Coincidentally, I just got done rigging my rods for tomorrow, they include:

 

7'6" MH-F Phenix Recon.. 8:1 Revo STX, 20# Fluoro, 1/2oz flippin jig/rage craw 

7'1" H-XF Powell Max...….8:1 Daiwa Tatula SV TW, 50# Braid, 3/8oz Cavitron buzzbait

7'1" MH-F Phenix Recon ..6.3:1 Daiwa Tatula SV TW, 12# Copoly, KVD 1.5 squarebill

7' MH-F St. Croix LTB..... 6.3:1 Lew's TP, 50# Braid, double fluke rig

6'10" MH-F Falcon Cara.. 7.3:1 Daiwa Tatula SV TW, 14# Copoly, Xcaliber Jimmy (walking bait)

And one spinning rod:

6'10" M-F Falcon Cara.....5.4:1 Pfluger President, 20# Braid w/12# copoly leader, pink trick worm

 

 

 

[Catt]

Right now!

 

Worm rod: weightless to 1/8 oz

Worm rod: 3/16 to 3/8 oz

Jig Rod: 1/4 to 1/2 oz

Buzzbait 

Frog

 

What's tied on em?

 

Nice try! ?

[RichF]

I'm about to take 18 up to Champlain this weekend for a tournament I'm fishing with my dad.  Hopefully after our one day of practice I'll be able to downsize a little but I have no clue what the fish are doing or if we'll be fishing smallmouth or largemouth.  If I'm fishing out of my tracker, I only bring 12 or 13 max. 

 

7'11 H Flip

7'6 XH Flip

7'6 H 3/4oz jig

7'4 H swimbait

7'3 H frog

7'0 H 1/2oz jig

7'0 H football jig

7'2 MH swimjig

7'0 MH speed worm

6'10 MH spinnerbait

6'8 M jerkbait

 

7'11 MHC DT 10

7'3 H glass bladed jig

7'4 MM DT 6

7'2 MHC plopper

 

7'0 M spin tube

7'0 ML spin drop shot

6'10 M spin shakey head 

 

[ww2farmer]

I usually keep 6- 8 rods or so on the deck, and a couple more in the locker, and have others that go in and out of the boat as needed. Most of my rods do multi-tasking.

 

This is what I have  up on deck right now....or as of yesterday afternoon.

Casting:

7 MH Custom rod, Daiwa 7.3:1 Exceler, 30lb braid w/12lb FC leader. 1/16th oz heavy hook wacky head, 5"  soft stick bait.

 

7'3" MH/F Daiwa Fuego, Daiwa 7.3:1 Fuego CT, 30lb braid w/12lb FC leader. 2/0  super line EWG hook, pegged 1/4 oz.  tungsten sinker, 3" soft plastic craw

 

7'3" H/F custom made flipping rod, Daiwa 8:1 Fuego CT, 50lb braid w/15lb FC leader, 4/0 super line EWG hook, pegged 3/8 oz. tungsten sinker, 4" soft plastic craw

 

7'3" MH/F Daiwa Aird-X, Daiwa 6.3:1 Fuego CT, 20lb braid, w/12lb FC leader. 1.5 sized square bill crank

 

7' H/F Daiwa Aird -X, Daiwa 8:1 Fuego CT, 50lb braid, hollow body frog.

 

Spinning:

 

6'8" M/XF custom made spinning rod, Daiwa Revros 2500, 10lb braid w/8lb FC leader, 1/16oz light wire hook wacky jig, 5" finesse worm

 

7' M/F Daiwa Aird-X, Daiwa Revros 2000, 10lb braid w/6lb FC leader, #1 VMC Neko hook, 1/16th oz tungsten nail weight, 5" stick bait + o-ring.

[Log Catcher]

I only take 6 setups with when fishing. 4 baitcasters and 2 spinning setups. Usually only have three on deck at a time. I start with

6' medium -crankbait, jerk bait, or topwater.

6' meduim- spinnerbait or swimbait.

6'mh - soft plastics.

I will pull out a rod for jigs or finesse soft plastics as needed. If I start pulling others out I am putting those away that aren't getting bites.

[Raul]

Nowadays I carry 4:

 

1 spinning 6’6” Medium

1 crankbait casting MH 

1 casting MH

1 casting H

 

I used to carry a lot more but what for ? With those I cover all my needs, I don’t mind cutting and retying.

 

[ww2farmer]

2 minutes ago, Raul said:

 

 

I used to carry a lot more but what for ? With those I cover all my needs, I don’t mind cutting and retying.

 

I said that for a while too......................then I had to start cutting and retying. I bought more rods and reels shortly after.

[flyfisher]

I am in a kayak and i used to go the retie route but i changed my mind and am glad i did.  I generally take 6 or 7 rods with me when i go with my conventional gear or 3 when fly fishing.  Easier to grab a new rod than retie.  

 

[greentrout]

When I lived in Houston you got 2 rods on flood retention/detention waters and parks...the utility districts allowed 1...

 

Always liked that situation...

 

good fishing....

[Raul]

2 hours ago, ww2farmer said:

I said that for a while too......................then I had to start cutting and retying. I bought more rods and reels shortly after.

I went from 10 to those 4 when after several trips I found out that I only fished with those, the other six were just out for a ride and since the craft is small I better not clutter it with stuff I didn’t put to use.

[Mike L]

I have 6 that I use most often. 

2 H/F...Frogs, C Rig and punching

4 MH/F for everything else. 

 

The action of each are different with different size reels and line which dictates what I use for what. 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[OkobojiEagle]

5 rigged in the boat:

Baitcast -- spinnerbait/ lipless crankbait

Baitcast -- hard plastic jerkbait/ hard plastic top water

Spinning -- soft plastic grub/ tube/ swim bait

Spinning -- drop shot

Spinning -- soft plastic jerkbait

 

oe

[bhoff]

I am solely a bank fisherman but I really only own and carry three rods. First being a Champion 703 with usually some type of weightless plastic. The second being a Champion 734 with a texas rig. And lastly being a Champion 735 with a frog or heavy texas rig with beaver style bait for fishing isolated brush and grass.

[scaleface]

I dont keep  rods on my deck because I'm to clumsy and would either knock them overboard or step on them .

[burrows]

6 ... two spinning four baitcasters that’s my whole arsenal actually.

[NHBull]

My staples in the Summer

worm for weightless

worm for trig

JB

Med CB

Jig

Top water 

 

 

 

[Bassun]

Totally depends on the situation.  Generally I keep 5 or 6 on deck.  But what's on them could be from:  Carolina Rig, T-Rig, Jig/Creature, senko, fluke to Topwater, Fluke, Crank, spinner, umbrella, jig.  Or if I'm working on something specific I may have multiple rods with the same lure type on...say different jigs, or whatever.  The only constant is I try to cover the water column (basically) and I almost always have some sort of jig/creature and a fluke on to start the day.  Naturally I try to logically think out the situation before I'm on the water and set up my first choices based on the expected conditions.

I also have some extras in the rod locker, one will always be rigged with a grub for when things go south, lol.  I usually hit the water with a mix of "normal" stuff (5 or 6 usually on deck more in the box), a couple extra big and heavy and a couple extra light.  The end of the day NEVER looks the same as the beginning.  I will start honing in on what's working and have a mix of that style tied up on deck.  It's been a bad day when I have the ultra lights out, lol.

 

However, I am not one who locks down a rod to a specific use generally.  There are certain characteristics I like for certain things, sure -- but I'm not opposed to pulling off a jig and tossing a heavy jerkbait or deep running crank, or go from crank to spinner to a t-rig, etc on a rod.  I also don't spend 100's of dollars on a single rod so I use them for multiple presentation types.

[A-Jay]

If I have  more than 3 or 4 on deck, which is standard operating procedure for me, it usually means I am either fishing new water, haven't been out in a while or just clueless. 

Which happens way more than I'd like to admit.

?
A-Jay

 

[Darren.]

From my kayak, the most I take will be 4. I just find that

too many becomes an exercise in frustration and language

I usually don't employ. Especially if it is windy.

 

I've taken more than 4, but prefer "less is more" and a KISS

approach. Probably take more if I had a boat with a deck.

 

Frequently I take 3, sometimes just 2. All spinning except for

one (have two rods for my Chronarch, a MH and ML rod, 

depending on what I want to accomplish).

[Jar11591]

Usually 6 or 7 setups in the boat, but really early or late in the year that number sometimes drops to 3. 

[kenmitch]

I fish from a kayak and sometimes take 4 rods with me which would be 2 baitcaster and 2 spinning or 3 baitcaster and 1 spinning just in case I have to go finesse to beat the skunk.

 

I'm going out tomorrow and I'm taking a baitcaster with a lipless, baitcaster with a chatterbait, and a spinning that I'll probably give the ned rig a shot on as I've never tried it before. If all else fails I'll throw on a really small swimbait and target one of the many huge schools of carp that roam the waters as their really easy to find.

[Mbirdsley]

I would like to get to this point.

 

baitcaster abu Garcia black mac medium 6’6 for cranks  10 lbs mono ( allready have)

 

Spinning MH fast action Berkley tactix rod with a Quintom Accurist reel.this my favorite rod and reel combo by far ( I know Berkley gets a bum rap sometimes but, I really like the rod and reel I’ve had it since 2012) 7’0 8 lbs spider wire stealth bread with 10lbs stern Fluor for leader.  Eventually I want this for just a senko and or other finesse applications

 

MH 7’0 foot fast action Berkley lighting shock rod going to buy a reel for this week.  I want 30lbs braid on it.  This will be my jig/ heavy Texas rigging rod/ punching rod.

 

next I want top water rod I’m not sure what I want in that yet other than I a high gear ratio reel.

 

Finally a jerkbait rod and I think I’d have everything covered for this summer.

 

 

next summer I want a dedicated drop shot rig. 

[gim]

I usually keep 3-4 on deck and another 4-5 in my rod locker.  The front deck of my boat isn't huge like some of those tournament fiberglass boats so I can't leave 20 of those things up there.