i hav an old town vapor angler kayak. i need a rod holder that i can attach in front of me. i see some rod holders on amaZon but doesnt say if itll work on a kayak.

Scotty makes good units, Walmart has some too that are their brand, Attwood. The bases from Attwood dont interchange with Scotty 

I used the scotty threaded deck mount on my kayak. I just had to drill the hole, then screw the mount in. It is very low and does not interfere with portage or carrying.

I am a ram mount guy myself.  The socket and ball system is top notch and allows almost unlimited flexibility in how the rod is positioned.  I had a scotty mount on my first kayak and after about two trips i said forget this and it was never used again. 

 

The other thing to consider is if you really need a rod holder.  I have two flush mounts and two ram mounts and the flush mounts get used sometimes and the same goes for the ram mounts.  the one thing i do like about the ram mounts is I can have them pretty much parallel to the boat if i am fishing near overhanging trees or going through tight spots on a river. 

I agree with flyfisher. My yak came with a Scotty and I am not impressed with it but I have been using Ram Mount products for years in other applications so I switched the Scotty out for the Ram.

Here is a link to Ram Mounts if you want to look at them.

http://www.rammount.com/products/kayakmounts/tabid/95/default.aspx

I used the scotty threaded deck mount on my kayak. I just had to drill the hole, then screw the mount in. It is very low and does not interfere with portage or carrying.

What do you know: my first post...

 

I have a sit-inside kayak that makes my options to rig for fishing a bit limited. I installed the same Scotty flush mount that Bluegiller mentioned and I have been extremely happy with it. I have it mounted to the deck in front of me and it doesn't interfere with my knees on the underside. I also took a piece of fiberglass panel that I had lying around the basement and used it as a backing plate to provide a bit more support. After sealing everything up with marine goop, there have been no problems for more than two years. I've had it out in choppy water on the ocean and no water has come through.

 

I'm not taking anything away from the Ram mounts, but the Scotty products seem to be well made. My rod holder takes both my bait casting and spinning reels equally well. Next, I think i'll expand to the Scotty Bait board in that spot and put the rod holder on top of it for a bit more work space.

I do think scotty makes a good product as far as quality goes without a doubt but given the tight quarters of a kayak the flexibility and ease of adjustment once mounted is what sold me on the ram mounts. 

 

Now if i was doing a lot of trolling or mounting to a baot I may lean towards a scotty as they feel a little more secure, not that the ram mount would pull off or anything,

I use the ram mount products in the 1" size.

Definitely strong enough for a rod. I also own the yakattack blackpak box which comes with three rod holders. I tend to prefer the rods behind me as they get in the way with paddling a little when mounted in front of me. Just my $0.2

I got the scotty rod holder. It is about $20 at Academy Sports. It is a little lighter then the same look alike made for fishing boat.