1 minute ago, Smirak said:

I was first chair saxophone and French horn during my band geek years…

 

That said, I usually carry 4-8 rods. I have 2 flush mount holders. This holders usually carry my “first chair(s)”. One is a bladed jig and one is a t-rig OR lipless. The rest are in my blackpack. Some are stored vertically at 90 degrees on my blackpack, but I have 2 rod holders canted at like 45 degrees to carry my longer swim bait rod (7’10)

reed AND brass?!!  sick.  i was a trombone nerd and i never got close to 1st chair.  

Just now, Darth-Baiter said:

reed AND brass?!!  sick.  i was a trombone nerd and i never got close to 1st chair.  

Haha - yes. Started on a sax. Needed another mellophone in the marching band, so I was voluntold. That turned into the French horn during concert season. I actually enjoyed the brass much more! Granted, this was almost 40 years ago too, so…

On 4/5/2025 at 11:14 AM, Darth-Baiter said:

if you're paddling/kicking with your rods standing up in rod holders behind you.  do you have a pecking order?  I mean, do you put them back into the same spot day after day.?  

Yes! I do actually. Treble hooked baits go farther away from me on the crate. Jig and texas rig rods go in the kayak prebuilt rod holders for easy access. Other rods go immediately behind me on the crate.

I carry 10 rods with me on my BigRig FD usually,  I keep my early morning rods in my starboard horizontal staging trough (I don't use my left trough because it is blocked by my MegaLive transducer turret.)  I learned in my last kayak that the tubes attached to my crate can sometimes flip the side release plate on some of the baitcast reels I put in them (Lews, AbuGarcia)- so I have to use other rod holder types like Scotty holers or built in rod holes for those.  I bring 3-4 spinning reels with me, so they fit in the crate attached rod holders well.  The least used rods are typically on my left side, since I can grab rods behind me on my right easier than my left.   

4 rods laying down in front of me.  I can't have anything sticking up behind me.  I sweep my rods across the back of the kayak on every cast.  

On 4/19/2025 at 1:35 PM, Bigbox99 said:

4 rods laying down in front of me.  I can't have anything sticking up behind me.  I sweep my rods across the back of the kayak on every cast.  

My kayak has 2 built-in vertical rod holders. These get my go-to combos. I have a milk crate with 6 vertical holders zip tied in, 3 in front and 3 in rear. In the center, front is my frog rod. Right, front is my jig/T-rig rod. This is just so I can reach back, overhead and grab the right one without looking. The other 4 holders are up for grabs. I usually carry no more than 6 unless I think some good crappie or bream fishing might break out-one place I go, that happens. The rear three are hard to reach so they get the last resort rods. I have two bad shoulders from working out/getting older and the rear holders require some contortion.

 

Often I find myself with 2 rods "on deck", switching it up regularly.

I hate my rods straight up behind me so I don't do that at all.  I use other mounts that are adjustable and they go wherever they go for the day.  Same applies for conventional or my fly rods.

I keep all my rods behind me on my milk crate rod holders. I usually keep my search baits closest to me and then my finesse, bottom contact baits near the back, but that's due to me using my search baits 70% of the time. I have two rod holders on my right side where I keep my confidence moving bait and a fluke. My right side I have more flexibility in so it's easier to grab one and make a quick cast to a target. I do have one rod holder in the front for trolling however.

I pack 13 vertical and 2 horizontal.  Nine vertical are in the crate ( 3 per side ) and 4 in the Engel cooler. All treble hooked lures are in the back row, chatter and spinner baits on the left side and plastics on the right side.

FM

On 5/12/2025 at 6:14 PM, Fishingmickey said:

I pack 13 vertical and 2 horizontal.  Nine vertical are in the crate ( 3 per side ) and 4 in the Engel cooler. All treble hooked lures are in the back row, chatter and spinner baits on the left side and plastics on the right side.

FM

That sounds like a mobile bait and tackle shop!

3 minutes ago, Kayak Koz said:

That sounds like a mobile bait and tackle shop!

It is, Koz. Rod management is the trick. Hope the new job is going well for you.

FM

20 minutes ago, Fishingmickey said:

It is, Koz. Rod management is the trick. Hope the new job is going well for you.

FM

I just moved in to my new house at the end of last week. It's nice having an 18 minute commute instead of an 80 minute commute. The downside is that I no longer live on a lake.

 

I haven't even fished in a month or so except for a few casts out back at the old house. But this weekend I'm going to try and hit two small lakes near me, Houston Lake and Lake Joy. I have no idea if they hold decent bass, but I've seen stories of double digits pulled out of there in the past.

Here’s how I roll………errrr……..float.

I use horizontal rod stagers on both sides and I also use the vertical holders on my crate if I have enough rods with me.  I bring anywhere from 5 to 13 rods when I go out.