I like a longer rod to be able to get a fish turned and headed up out of brush, and also for general control of the fight. 7 foot has always been a good size for me.
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I like a longer rod to be able to get a fish turned and headed up out of brush, and also for general control of the fight. 7 foot has always been a good size for me.
I usually carry 2 rods in the yak....a 7' St. Croix panfish and a BassPro 10' MicroLite, med light.
By far, the most used rod, is the 10'. Yes, it can be a pain. Line will get wrapped around the rod tip sometimes, but it's a 2 pc rod so I just break 'er down and untangle it. The 7' rod is one piece.
Ten ft lets me cast a LONG way, bring fish around the front of boat, and I miss very few hook sets compared to the 7 footer.
It's really according to how you want to fish. I have a set of 6-12', 6-8' rods for spider rigging and use 2-10', 2-8', 2-6' for longlining. 10' rod for jigging tree tops/brush piles. All my casting rods are under 6' and dock shooting rods are 5'-6'' and under. I even have a set of 6-3' rods for setting under low bridges where others can't get to and use these for tight lining. In the winter months these short rods are awesome to fish where I could not fish with longer rods. I have found that kayak fishing doesn't stop me from using any setup I used in my big boat. It is all in the setups you use for different styles and being able to build what I want does make it easier for me.
6'8" is my do it all multi-species rod, spinning rod is not an issue for me. I do sometimes get a little squeezed on a river with overhanging branches going backwards trying to drop my Smallmouth bait in the pocket with my 7 '3" baitcaster though.
It’s nice getting these opinions and ideas on how to best use your kayak. I was thinking in terms of small/medium stream fishing where the shorter length rods are really necessary most times. Bigger water gives you some more options.
Bob
I vertical fish jigs by simply placing my rod(s) in the holder(s) and watching the rod tips for thumps. This frees my hands to slowly paddle around/over structure. From my experience, the movement imparted on the rods by the kayak's movements (often the less the better) is plenty action to produce strikes. That said, the longer the rod is, the more amplified these movements are. I've found that any rod over 9' moves around too much whenever dealing with wind or boat waves. Coincidentally, a 9' rod is also the longest I can fully set hook with under my favorite bridge at my local lake. If I had to choose one length though it would be 7 foot. This seems to be the sweet spot for my style, and is the max length I care to re-tie, clear line twists from the tip, and easily bring the big slabs in close to lip. All of this said, if I'm going to be casting or shooting for crappie, I'll use my 5'6 setup for ease of maneuvering.
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i prefer anything 6 and above but you really have to watch how you stow your rods. especially if u fishing under trees or paddling under trees to get to the promised lands ;)
I use 6 , 12 foot rods on my kayak. It gets real busy at times .
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6 and a half to 7 feet for casting. The 7 footer is also good for fishing vertically with a double jig rig if I have room. Also have a short 4'6 ugly stick to vertical jig next to the kayak if the fish are really biting. Can get precise lineup with the depthfinder and fun bringing them up on 4 lb test.
I'm using 6 , 12 foot rods off my kayak ..
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