For all the kayakers, when fishing in a new or large location (not your local pond where they only hit senkos, if they're wacky rigged), what rods do you normally carry? After spending two weeks on Lake Champlain, I started to wonder if I am doing this the most efficient way.

 

I can carry 7 rods with me, maybe 8 if I really want to keep one up front all the time, which is a bit of a pain having to swap rods rather than put one back and grab the next. I could arrange more if needed.

 

H/F - frog rod - usually bring this if there's any lily pads around in the warmer months.

MH-H/F - jig rod - pretty much a staple

MH/F - this is usually for things like spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, swim jigs and the like, but it may see a Texas rig when my T-Rig rod is used for other things or I want a little more power.

M-MH/XF - texas rig, wacky rig, tubes, shaky heads, weightless senkos in no wind, finesse jigs - pretty much a staple

MH/MF - crankbaits. I usually carry this over my M/MF rod because it will throw all types of crankbaits.

M/MF - crankbaits - I only bring this one if I'm fishing spots I'm familiar with and I know I won't be throwing deep divers or in any sort of cover.

M/XF - Primarily poppers and jerkbaits

 

 

For spinning rods:

M/F spinning - drop shot, shaky heads, weightless senkos - this is what I bring if I only bring one spinning rod.

ML/XF spinning - drop shot, tubes, ned rigs, weightless senkos - this one usually only comes when I bring three spinning rods

ML/F spinning - this rod pretty almost always has a tube rigged up or sometimes a ned rig.

 

I am wondering if I can make any minor changes to make things more efficiently.

 

Another thing I've been fighting with is  I usually run 12# fluorocarbon with my M-MH/XF rod. It's enough for a T-Rig, and light enough for lighter applications and most of the time that's great but I have fished around a lot of rocks where thicker line is better, requiring me using the reel with 16# that I usually use with the MH/F rod. Maybe I shouldjust go with 14# fluocarbon and have it be the best of both worlds? Or should I add another reel? I do need a reel with 15lb or 17lb mono for prop baits, in theory I could use that for spinnerbaits too.

We have very similar setups. Although, you have a much nicer kayak than I. I am running a Vibe Sea ghost 110. I'm in southeastern MA. Pretty much on the boarder of RI. I also carry around 8 rods. 

 

I bring 1 6'10" spinning rod usually has dropshot, hair jig under 3/16, weightless fluke. 

 

7' 2" BFS XF rod- light inline spinner, ned, shakey, keel weighted soft plastic swim bait.

7' Med/BFS XF- mojo, or whatever is heavier from the above BFS rod

6'8" Med F- Texas rigged ??? usually a worm. 

6'8" Med hvy F- jig

6'8" Med hvy F- swim jig

 

Everything above always come with me. 

7'2" med XF- This was my jerk bait rod. I have sworn off treble hooks. So now it has a soft body jerk bait usually on it. 

7'2" Med hvy F- C-rig, spinner bait, buzz bait.

 

If I am fishing weeds/pads then the two above stay home and these come along.

6'8" heavy fast- soft plastic toad or frog. 

7'0" xtra heavy F- punch rig, heavy jig

 

If I am fishing a new body of water, between online info, Google earth pro, and other sources, we can usually figure out if the heavy gear is needed and depending on the time of year, I will pack accordingly.   

 

2 minutes ago, Bass Junke said:

We have very similar setups. Although, you have a much nicer kayak than I. I am running a Vibe Sea ghost 110. I'm in southeastern MA. Pretty much on the boarder of RI. I also carry around 8 rods.

I will say nothing wrong with the Vibe Sea Ghost 110. If I was a bit lighter, I'd be tempted to get something like that just to take to smaller lakes for an easier launch, especially with my back issues. But I can really appreciate the Bigwater after spending some time with it on windy days on Lake Champlain, basically what it was made for. 20+ mph wind is like being on the ocean but it cuts the water and keeps me tracking in the same general direction pretty nicely.

 

15 minutes ago, Bass Junke said:

6'8" Med F- Texas rigged ??? usually a worm.

 

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who prefers a lighter powered rod for a T-Rig, at least when I can get away with it which honestly being from the northeast is most of the time.

 

12 minutes ago, Bass Junke said:

f I am fishing weeds/pads then the two above stay home and these come along.

6'8" heavy fast- soft plastic toad or frog. 

7'0" xtra heavy F- punch rig, heavy jig

 

I do have a flipping rod too, but I rarely use it. A lot of lakes don't have anything thick enough to warrant it, and a few I fish regularly that do, it's a very small spot. Add to that my second braid reel actually broke (the side plate won't stay on, Ishould probably send that to Daiwa it can't be a hard fix), so lately it's been that or the frog. And for me, most of the areas where I need the flipping rod are also areas covered in lily pads. I can still fish the weedlines with my t-rig or jig.

I bring 4 rods on my Hobie Outback.  Most of the time it is 4 baitcasters, but occasionally I substitute one of the baitcasters for a spinning rod.  All but my 7 foot medium heavy, are multiple technique rods, and depending on the day there can be lots of overlap on duties.    

 

1- 7 foot medium,- Top water, 1/2 oz and under crankbaits, small swimbaits, jerkbaits, weightless soft plastics, drop shot.

 

2- 7 medium heavy.- T rigs and jigs.

 

3- 7.5 foot medium heavy.  Bladed jigs, spinnerbaits, crankbaits over 1/2 oz.  larger topwater, and many other moving baits.

 

4-  7.5 foot heavy.  Punching, C Rig, A Rig, large swimbaits, any lure over 1 oz.

 

5-  M 7 foot spinning rod.  Drop Shot, weightless plastics, inline spinners, and other moving lures under 1/4 oz.  

 

 

when I was in the kayak, I had a 5 rod limit- 4 laid down and one in my hand.  Usually that meant 1 spinning rod and 4 baitcasters.  Among the 4 baitcasters (sometimes 5 if I left the spinning rod home) it depended on the lake and the time of year.  Most of the lakes around here are heavy grass so treble hooked baits are a non starter from June and on.  All the crankbait rods would be put away and swapped for heavier punching/frog type rods.  On the flip side, those big rods didn't come out until June because there was no need for them.

 

I had 3 main rods that were always in the boat with me- the swim jig, head turner, and the heavy cover jig.  With those three, I could fish just about anything up to 3/4 oz and down to 1/4 or so.  If I was limited to just those three rods for the balance of my fishing I wouldn't be in too bad a place for the waters up here.  Then depending what lake, time of year, cover, weather conditions, etc I would add on a heavier rod, a frog specialist, a ned rod, etc.  Your mileage might vary for your specifics but when you are limited in the number of rods you are carrying, having a couple rods that are good at a whole lot of things is a good strategy.

I am down to 3 rods on the yak, sometimes 4.

 

Always:

 

7' BFS

7' MHMF

7'5" MHMF

 

Sometimes:

 

Swimbait rod

When I first bought a plastic milk crate, I cut off 4 pieces of PVC pipe for 4 rods.

 

I made two of those. One for me and one for one of my sons.

 

They don't go out much anymore so I "stole" 2 from theirs a couple of years ago.

 

Last year I'm like the heck with it, I "stole" the other 2.

 

So now I can fish with 8.

 

M spinning - Neko rigs

MH baitcasting - Swim jigs

M baitcasting - Poppers/spooks

H baitcasting - Frogs

MH baitcasting - Deepish cranks

MH baitcasting - Spinnerbaits

H baitcasting - Swimbaits

M baitcasting - Jerkbaits

 

Oh hell, where's my jig rod gonna go? I'm making this up as I go.  

 

I just added a dedicated topwater rod to my lineup, FedEx is dropping off the final piece today.

 

Clearly I haven't thought about this enough as the jig rod is 100% coming with me every trip.

 

I normally like to have an UL spinning with me as well to throw tiny cranks for panfish.

 

I also want a squarebill setup.

 

It's pretty clear I need a boat.  LOLOLOLOLOL

 

 

 

 

 

 

I usually take 6 or 7 rods. I could take more but things start to get cluttered. Typically I take the following.

 

Spinning senko wacky 

BFS crankbait 

Deep crankbait

Texas or free rig 

Spinnerbait or bladed jig

 

The other two are typically for fun, something new, or something I want to get better at.

 

As far as specific set ups go, I don't really take certain ones. I have about 35 rods and reels that I like for different reasons. I just pick what I think will be fun for that day.

 

 

1 hour ago, FishTank said:

I usually take 6 or 7 rods. I could take more but things start to get cluttered. Typically I take the following.

That's where I'm at too. I can comfortably hold up to 7, but 6 is a little easier for two reasons. First if I'm fishing with my kid and we use the left and right side built in holders, the rods can cross which can be a pain launching and loading. Once I get on the water, I can move the rod in front of my blackpak to that holder, which means no rod in front of my blackpak which makes getting inside the blackpak much easier.

 

With a little tweaking, I could get up to 10 rods comfortably by adding three more rod holders to my blackpak. The downside with this is I'd either have to put the blackpak on some sort of riser, another thing to carry (maybe I can find a way to screw it into the bottom?) or I can simply raise up the rod holders, but this creates a storage issue where it won't fit on its spot in my shed and may limit what I can put ontop of it in my car which may be problematic when camping.

4 to 12 different setups.. All depends on what lake I'm on and how I plan on fishing... 

I’ve tried to keep it to 3 rods in the yak. I have a smaller power boat as well so I’m used to keeping a smaller arsenal overall. 

 

MBR783C Loomis MH 

MBR782C Loomis M or my CR722 of same power 

SJR782 Loomis M spinning 

 

can cover most things with these combos.  Heavier cover green bass or pike trips I can substitute the 2 power casting for my MBR 784C heavy.   More finesse or brown bass focused trips I’ll sometimes bring a second lighter spinning combo and leave a casting out. 
 

3 combos keeps clutter and complexity down in my Native Ultimate.   Great yak but more like a canoe and not as spacious for storing like a big sit on top style.  
 

Some of these newer serious fishing kayaks have more room for more combos I know.  I can certainly see the appeal of bringing more setups but for me the 3 combos works and I’m effective with them.  

 

 

I've got eight rods and will carry 7 if I'm serious fishing - tournament practice or just knowing I'm going out for a full day. I built myself a crate out of a modular tool box and it holds six rods - keeping one up front and having the box full is manageable. A lot of times if I'm going out just to fun fish I'll carry two or three rods (the Senko/speed worm rods and maybe one other rod) and a day box rather than the full setup.

These five are pretty much always in the yak on a serious day:

• 6'10" M/XF spinning rod with 15lb braid and a 10lb leader. Most of the time this has a weightless Senko, but I've used it to throw jerkbaits/flukes/etc also.
•  7'2" MH/F with 17lb fluoro. Texas rig rod, most of the time this has a 3/16oz weight and a speed worm of some variety.
• 7'4" Mag H/F with 50lb braid: Frog rod. Also throws Big EZ swimbaits, have done swim jigs on it in heavy cover. Basically the nasty cover moving bait stick.
• 7'4" H/M with 17lb fluoro: Dedicated bladed jig and lipless rod.
• 7'6" H/F with 65lb braid: Flipping stick. 

These three vary depending on the season/day:

• 7'0" that's nominally a M/MF squarebill rod but I think it's heavier than that. I stuck 30lb braid on it and use it to throw topwater. Throws and walks a 5/8oz Sexy Dawg beautifully.
• 7'0" ML/F spinning rod. Usually has a Ned (really a tiny child) rig, will drop shot when they run deep in the summer.
• 6'6" M/F spinning rod: This is the jerkbait stick in winter.

4 hours ago, Jaybert said:

I’ve tried to keep it to 3 rods in the yak. I have a smaller power boat as well so I’m used to keeping a smaller arsenal overall. 

 

MBR783C Loomis MH 

MBR782C Loomis M or my CR722 of same power 

SJR782 Loomis M spinning

This is a pretty versatile 3 rod setup. I’ve been considering getting a M/F rod just for versatility, I might not even use it a lot but it would let me throw a variety of lures of I travel light.

On the river in my sit-ins, 7’ M/F, 7’MH/F, 7’3” H/M, 6’6”M/M…all spinning.

In slow water in my sit-on, I’ll swap out the two 7’ spinning for two 7’ casting.  
And I always carry a 5’6” UL for extra fun.

I just started using a kayak, but so far I’ve only brought two. Might do 3, but it makes little sense to deck out like a bass pro on the little weedy river I fish. While smallies are seasonally available, it’s mostly largemouth right now, so often I bring a 7’ MHF casting rod with 14lb mono and a 7’ MHF spinning rod with 20lb braid and 12lb mono lead. I throw casting jigs, t rigged worms/creature baits, and senkos on these. When smallies are mixed in heavier in spring and cover is sparser, I bring my 7’ MF rods in both casting and spinning.

I’m going on a bigger fish only mission in the junk soon and will be bringing my 7’3” MHF and 7’3” HF for big worms, 7” senkos and bigger beavers. Feel like that’s gonna be kinda fun
 

 

Yes @Boomstick at about 65lbs. the Sea Ghost is pretty easy to transport and maneuver. Pretty awesome I can stand and fish in a kayak that light. Great kayak for Mass. 

 

Depending on the length of my outing I will take between 4 and 8 rods. I can actually mount two rod holders and get to 11 rods but it becomes difficult to grab certain rods. 9 would be my limit. I have an open rod tube on my crate with 8. 

 

@Boomstick I fish a few weedy places and like you and the 3/4oz punch rig seems a bit overkill. This year I switched to a 1/2 jig and that gets me down to where I need to get to. 

19 minutes ago, Bass Junke said:

I can actually mount two rod holders and get to 11 rods but it becomes difficult to grab certain rods. 9 would be my limit. I have an open rod tube on my crate with 8. 

My setup maxes out at 7 but I keep it at 6 for the same reason. Sometimes I wish I had the 7th but meh. I've still yet to specialize my gear fully but I have a bunch of workhorses that serve me very well, not perfect but I am mostly happy with it all:

 

1. 7' ml fast spinning - dropshot, 1/8-1/16 keitech, karashi, small jerkbait, small shakey

2. 6'6" m mod spinning - fluke, senko, tube, "power shot," small topwater, md shakey, md swimbait

3. 7' m fast baitcaster - jerkbait, md topwater, crankbait, squarebill, fluke, finesse jig

4. 7' mdhvy mod baitcaster - bladed jig, squarebill, md topwater, spinnerbait, 6" swimbait

5. 7' mdhvy fast baitcaster - jig, texas rig, bladed jig, buzzbait

6. 7'3" mdhvy fast baitcaster - frog, flipping, pitching, toad, jig

 

I wish #6 was a heavy and #2 was a 7' but other than that these cover all my bases. Sometimes if the water is crystal clear with no heavy cover I will replace #5 with a 6'6" ultralight.

On 8/25/2025 at 5:25 PM, Jaybert said:

 

MBR783C Loomis MH 

MBR782C Loomis M or my CR722 of same power 

SJR782 Loomis M spinning 

 

can cover most things with these combos.  Heavier cover green bass or pike trips I can substitute the 2 power casting for my MBR 784C heavy.  
 

 

Nice selection !
I have all of these same rods that I carry in my canoe. I carry five with the addition of a Kistler 6’9” MH#4 for my frog rod.

I have four rod slots and one in my hand so five is comfortable but I’m trying to get to four full time.

I pack more than I need in the truck and decide what goes on the kayak when I get to where I'm going.

 

I stick with a pretty 'normal' mix but switch up depending on my mood:

• MH/F casting -  jigs and Keitechs, big worms, etc. Usually a Kistler Helium.
• MH/MF casting - bladed jigs, lipless, and bigger crankbaits.  Usually an older 7'3" Kistler KLX.
• LMH/F (light-med/heavy) casting/spinning - tubes, medium T-rigged stuff. Always a Kistler.
• M/MF casting - Kistler KLX 6'9" M/MF.  My dedicated jerkbait rod.
• ML/F casting/spinning - for finesse plastics, Ned rigs.
• M/F spinning - drop shotter, right now a 7'2" M/F Douglas LRS.  I switch this one frequently.

Most of my rods are Kistler.  I added a few Douglas and FX Custom rods this year thanks to the Bait Monkey and Outdoor Show pricing.

H/F - heavy jig rod. 3/4-1 oz. 

Mh/F - versatile rod, can do jigs, TR, or Spinnerbait, buzzbait, etc. 

Mh/F - Same as above (I usually have 1 heavy and 1 swim jig tied on, and a TR worm/creature. sometimes throw a bladed jig or spinnerbait, etc. on one of these also.)

M/F - shaky head

 

Sometimes a M/m for jig head minnow, blade bait, certain cranks, etc. 

 

That's pretty much it. I like to keep it simple and not bring too much stuff. I can change trailers and try many different things with this setup without excessive retying or rods everywhere. I also usually go out less than 5 hours, and tend to hit a spot with 1 or 2 lures, then keep moving. 

I currently own a few more, but have come to the conclusion that I really only need about 7 rods. That said I currently only take 4 or so when I go out on my kayak. Which ones I bring depends on what I think I might want to throw that day but there are always those days when a certain lure sounds good in your head and as soon as you get out on the water it's pretty obvious it isn't actually going to work (man plans, god laughs). Case in point I got a nice one on a walking bait last week so this week I tied one on and got out early and was all excited to throw it and when I got there the water was way too choppy for a walking bait.

 

That said I like to have at least one rod that I can use for bottom contact and one for moving baits. Everything else is up in the air and for me it's more about having a rod that you can throw two or three baits with (at least) in case that one you thought you were going to use that day turns out to be a non-starter.

Yeah it’s more about what depths I want to cover more than what bait for me determines how many rods.

 

If I have a rod for top water (frog-buzz-popper), shallow mid water (spinner bait-wake bait-swimjig), mid depth (crank bait-swimbait-lipless) and bottom ( Texas rig-tube-creature) I feel I have all the bases covered. 

All my rods are MBR and easily cover several baits for each depth so in reality I only require four rods,,,,,but usually carry five!

Go figure……….

On 8/31/2025 at 8:22 PM, Motoboss said:

Yeah it’s more about what depths I want to cover more than what bait for me determines how many rods.

 

If I have a rod for top water (frog-buzz-popper), shallow mid water (spinner bait-wake bait-swimjig), mid depth (crank bait-swimbait-lipless) and bottom ( Texas rig-tube-creature) I feel I have all the bases covered. 

All my rods are MBR and easily cover several baits for each depth so in reality I only require four rods,,,,,but usually carry five!

Go figure……….

This is generally my approach as well. I have a couple of purpose rods but I can use others as I see fit to make a lure lineup that should work for me

On 8/25/2025 at 4:05 PM, MRQturbo said:

4 to 12 different setups.. All depends on what lake I'm on and how I plan on fishing... 

 

TWELVE?

 

I can take 8 and that can be a cluster sometimes. They are all in the back vertical.

 

How do you manage 12?

 

Thanks

5 combos. 
 

light bottom contact

heavy bottom contact 

wacky spinning

moving baits

topwater.  
 

if I’m going to the delta, add punch rod combo.