Kayak people. How many rods do you bring?

[Crankin4Bass]

16 hours ago, They call me “Gaiter Salad” said:

All winter long, I fished with 3 rods.  Crank, jig, finesse. 
 

as spring approaches.  I think I need two more.  Punch, frog/top water. 
 

my wife was napping today and instead of messing with her, I tinkered in the garage.  

(She did a 10-mike mountain hike w friends).  I came up with this!   It works fine.  A bit cramped with reel handle pretty close together but it should work fine until I consider buying something manufactured. 
 

me. Five rods is my max.   Apologize if this in the wrong section. 
 

That looks nice. Is that a tackle or a tool box you have the rod holder attached to? 

[TonynswAR]

4 rods max

[Swinghead]

Six usually. 

[Darth-Baiter]

1 hour ago, Crankin4Bass said:

That looks nice. Is that a tackle or a tool box you have the rod holder attached to? 

Yes. It’s a Milwaukee tool box. The more space; I would fill it.  I wanted a small storage space. 

[Dens228]

5 hours ago, Stasher1 said:

One of the things I really like about kayak fishing is the simplicity, so usually just two. I'll occasionally add a third, but never more than three total.

 

I don't even bring enough lures and misc. stuff to justify a crate. I have a small soft lunchbox full of soft plastics and another bag that holds two 3600 cases. I grab the cases I need based on location and season, and leave the rest at home.

 

 

Me too.  Despite bring a bunch of rods my setup is transported ready to go.  I get to the water, put the Bixby on the rudder, the rods are stored vertically in the kayak during travel so I put them in the rod holders and off I go.  Pull in to the lot, be on the water, 10 minutes or less. 

[Bankc]

4-5.  I leave the topwater rod at home in the winter, or if I'm fishing only during mid-day.  

 

I could certainly get by with just one.  Two of my rods are redundant (MH/F), but they're my most used and it keeps me from tying so many knots, by allowing me to switch back and forth between the two.  Then there's my crankbait stick and finesse spinning rod.  

 

I've found that to be the best balance between simplicity and utility.  

[Smalls]

6-8. I'll bring out 8 if I'm prefishing a tournament, or it's a lake I haven't seen in a while, and usually narrow it down to 2-3 techniques that I'll need throughout the day.  But still bring out 6 for tournament day. Mostly just in case I find another pattern if conditions change, or as backups.

[Hook2Jaw]

Seven.  Three on the rear of the crate, two on the front to allow me to access the crate easily and two flush mounts with rod holder extensions.  My core rods that are almost always with me are;

 

7' M Spinning for weightless Texas, Wacky, Neko and Shakeyhead.

7'6" H Casting for jigs.

7' M Casting for squarebills.

 

Those are my confidence sticks and techniques, and the other four are up in the air.

[J Francho]

4 or 5 works for me. I could carry a dozen but it would be overkill. Most rods do quite a few things well.  There's others that are one trick ponies, like a cranking stick. So, you really have to know you'll be using that specialist if you're gonna bring it. Otherwise, it's just in the way. 

[HookInMouth]

Two, a medium heavy casting and a medium spinning. I'm struggling "not" to add a third because I really would rather keep it simple. I take a backpack with a Cal Coast Battlebox and two 3700 boxes. No electronics. No power poles or motors.

 

I don't even use rod holders. I just lay them on the deck in front of me. I have two Omega Rod Holders and I don't even take them with me. I probably should though. I'm gonna end up in the drink cursing my luck eventually because I lost a grand in fishing rods... 

[Bass Junke]

6 rigs on my kayak. 2 spinning 4 casting. 2 flush mounts and 4 on my crate. Low overhanging obstructions are definitely my weakness. Been considering a different approach for this season, have not come up with any ideas though. 

[Teal]

1 hour ago, J Francho said:

4 or 5 works for me. I could carry a dozen but it would be overkill. Most rods do quite a few things well.  There's others that are one trick ponies, like a cranking stick. So, you really have to know you'll be using that specialist if you're gonna bring it. Otherwise, it's just in the way. 

Exactly. 

[Yakalong]

3 rods, I like to keep it simple and if I need to change out what I have that is easy enough. One of the things I like fishing from my kayak over the boat is I don't get in a hurry (really can't). 

[JustJames]

Mostly 2-3 setup, one for finesse like, including fluke and one for heavy jig/bottom contact. It is also depends how long do I plan to be on water too. I don’t fish trebles hook on kayak so that eliminated one or two setups. I found that the more setup more unnecessarily time to prepare both gears and baits. I also fish a lot of shoreline where the stand up rods can get in the way of brushes and things. Each of my setup can fish a couple of techniques and I will only concentrate on those. I’ll learn the water and learn the fish to see what should I bring next time out. I think this is benefit of fishing smaller lake, I only fish a couple spot each time not the whole lake.

My last trip, I have two setups end up only using one for those few hours, but I feel a lot fish roaming around 6-10’ FOW and about 10-15’ off the bank. My next trip I’ll include Fluke and 1/4oz jig.

[GTN-NY]

1 hour ago, Bass_Fishing_Socal said:I don’t fish trebles hook on kayak so that eliminated one or two setups.

Curious as to why no trebles on a kayak?

[Dens228]

3 minutes ago, GTN said:

Curious as to why no trebles on a kayak?

Curious as well............

[moguy1973]

On 1/24/2021 at 11:55 AM, They call me “Gaiter Salad” said:

I lost a rod out of my flush holes.  Same kayak.  Just punted it out with the paddle.  
 

im gonna not use those. 

 

out of curiosity. Can you take a pic of the double-3?

I made rod leashes out of old phone charger cords and some cable cuffs like shown here: http://palmettokayakfishing.blogspot.com/2011/09/build-rod-leash-for-kayak-fishing.html

[JustJames]

@GTN @Dens228it is just my preference. I don’t even fish a lot of trebles hook when bank fish. I’m too old to take the risk nowadays and seen too many incidents. In other word I’m too lazy to bring the net with me lol. There are many ways to catch fish but I just prefer boring/safer way. I know, right? I didn’t even used any of the topwater or jerkbait at all last year.

 

 

[wasabi_VA]

3

[kjfishman]

Three 2 bait cast one spinning.  I try to keep it simple.

 

 

 

[Dens228]

37 minutes ago, Bass_Fishing_Socal said:

@GTN @Dens228it is just my preference. I don’t even fish a lot of trebles hook when bank fish. I’m too old to take the risk nowadays and seen too many incidents. In other word I’m too lazy to bring the net with me lol. There are many ways to catch fish but I just prefer boring/safer way. I know, right? I didn’t even used any of the topwater or jerkbait at all last year.

Here was my last trip a few days ago, boring but I’ll take it.

 

I hear you on that.  I have a few places I fish that if I even THINK treble hook it gets snagged while it's still in the box......lol

[jgordon]

Pretty much like a few others have mentioned.  I have have had 8 in the yak at once and then realized its too much and then in rod holders getting hit in trees.  Nowadays at most 4-5 and I just lay them down.  I only have a crappy Ascend 12ft or whatever its called.  

[Backroad Angler]

I bring only 3, a spinning and two bait casters, both usually mh/f so I can throw anything on them. Will substitute my third one with a speciality for crank baits or frogging or whatever if I’m feeling it. 

[Osteichthyes Bassturd]

Hello folks. A new Fry here thought I may as well read a lot about stuff I enjoy and comment when appropriate. On number of rods: When I go I tend to stay out 10-12 hrs at a time. So I load up my Kayak with a capacity of what is comfortable to grab depending on the species I like. Bass Lg & Small, Crappie, Bluegill being my targets. So I have a minimum of 5 rods and a max of 7 normally brought in the Kayak every trip. 1 MH BC ,1M BC , 1MH Spin, 1 MSpin 1 or 2 Lt Spin, and most of the time a mag lite DSR if the current allows me to hover over the spot. My crate is rigged for 5 in tow. The other two if I carry are locked and loaded in front. One of those I will drop back or fish. So there is always a rod in my hand. I rarely paddle since it's set up with ETM and it's a Hobbie Outback. The boat of my dreams and All I could convince the boss to allow in the house.

Thanks for allowing me in the club.  

[Fishingmickey]

     Ok, after reading through this entire post. I'm not sure if I should set myself up for this or not.

     I carry fifteen rods on my kayak. It's a PA14 I have three, three rod holders on three sides of a milk crate. In front of that crate I have a 19qt Engel cooler with four more holders on it.  So thirteen vertical and I carry two horizontal in the Hobie storage tubes.

     I will usually have tied on a spinner bait, Chatterbait or two, Underspin, topwater something, three crankbaits (differing depths or sizes).  I'll have several (4-5) soft plastic's rigged up, weightless and T-rigged and a couple of jigs. A spinning rod or two usually fills out the arsenal.  Flame away and yes I do carry too much but I like it that way.

Fishingmickey