Rods/Reels

Okay I'm almost there with my kayak located in my living room for rigging.
Any suggestions on rods/reels? I have some nice reels such as accurate and pro gear that I'd love to use on the open water but I thought they'd be too heavy after using em all day. I'm not sure even if taking expensive gear out is a good idea either.
What do you guys use? Or do you keep your nicer reels for the boats.
 
After a long day of yaking I do plan to stow away everything before I come back in for the landing so I'm hoping for minimal to no damage to any equipment that I have including reels. That is if I don't lose em while I'm out there .

personally, with a 15' yak, I am liking a longer rod than normal to reach around bow
and stern and troll without getting hung up in the rudder.   

Okay I'm almost there with my kayak located in my living room for rigging.
Any suggestions on rods/reels? I have some nice reels such as accurate and pro gear that I'd love to use on the open water but I thought they'd be too heavy after using em all day. I'm not sure even if taking expensive gear out is a good idea either.
What do you guys use? Or do you keep your nicer reels for the boats.
 
After a long day of yaking I do plan to stow away everything before I come back in for the landing so I'm hoping for minimal to no damage to any equipment that I have including reels. That is if I don't lose em while I'm out there .

Rod leashes my friend.  Remeber when your out on your yak, especially in the ocean, you should be rigged to capsize.  When I am on the ocean, all my rods except the one being currently used are leashed to the boat.

I don't have any special kayak rods, I use all my regular rods, but it is nice to be able to get the line over the bow at times.

MolBasser

Rod leashes my friend.  Remeber when your out on your yak, especially in the ocean, you should be rigged to capsize.  When I am on the ocean, all my rods except the one being currently used are leashed to the boat.

I don't have any special kayak rods, I use all my regular rods, but it is nice to be able to get the line over the bow at times.

MolBasser

Thanks for replying.  I also wanted to know if folks generally use lighter gear for kayak fishing or does the weight of the reel/rod really matter. I have a few setups that while they are great, I wouldn't wanna be holding em all day. For example I have a tica boat rod that has a pretty heavy metal reel seat and even on a boat, it gets kind of heavy holding it in your hand after a while especially when paired with a 20+oz reel.
And yes, I do intend to leash the rods for sure when I'm out there on the open water. I gues

Rod leashes my friend.  Remeber when your out on your yak, especially in the ocean, you should be rigged to capsize.  When I am on the ocean, all my rods except the one being currently used are leashed to the boat.

I don't have any special kayak rods, I use all my regular rods, but it is nice to be able to get the line over the bow at times.

MolBasser

Thanks for replying.  I also wanted to know if folks generally use lighter gear for kayak fishing or does the weight of the reel/rod really matter. I have a few setups that while they are great, I wouldn't wanna be holding em all day. For example I have a tica boat rod that has a pretty heavy metal reel seat and even on a boat, it gets kind of heavy holding it in your hand after a while especially when paired with a 20+oz reel.
And yes, I do intend to leash the rods for sure when I'm out there on the open water. I gues

Just see the thread about "donations" to the sea gods that Mooch wrote and I'm pretty sure that you will want to leash rods.

I don't have any really heavy rods except my light tuna stick with a penn 500 on it.  I am not the guy to talk to about ocean fishing though unless you want lesons on how to barf on a kayak without capsizing or getting puke in your lap...

MolBasser

I would like longer rods, but same size handles (with weight in the butt), since one is fishing while sitting down.
some people like the longer handle to go under the arm, but I like to put the butt against my body.

Mol, with a longer kayak, you might find yourself wanting the longer rods. I used a 6'6" bass rod off a scrambler and
it was fine. But then I moved to a SPTW and it was not as good. The problem with the longer rods is they have a
longer handle which gets in the way. 

Ultimately I think custom rods are the answer. shorter handle, weighted to balance. longer rod, corrosion proof guides. 
I have been buying and using cheap rods to learn what I want from erik K. of reelrods. Getting pretty close.
I think I want an 8.5' UL trout trolling rod, a bit like the ones vances tackle makes but a foot longer.
I like the trout trolling to be practice for salmon, so I use the same kind of reel, same rod holder, etc.
Then a 9' ocean trolling and mooching rod, and finally an 8 foot rock fish/ jig stick kind of affair.
The first two would be fiberglass, the last graphite composite.
all with buillt in flotation, shorter handles, a place to hook leashes, and those titanium alloy guides.
saving my pennies, 

Mol, Let's go fish capitola this year.  There are a lot of fish right in and around those kelp beds.
It's mostly flat, you probably won't get sick. if you do, you are close to shore. I think you just
need to practice "no look" fishing. just keep your eyes on the town a lot, you won't get sick.  Probably hard for
an obsessive compulsive Ph.D. fisherman, but if I can do it, so can you!

J

JMAirey re custom rods: would they be one-piece?

dwest: I'm pretty sure he will make whatever you ask for.

Jmairey:  Let's do it.  I never got sick on a yak in SD fishing the kelp, but last year I just had a rough go of it in SC, I puked every single time out.

I've got some killer jigs for the kelp forest.

MolBasser

almost certainly not for the trolling sticks. vance staplin of vances tackle
makes a semi-custom roberts (acid) wrap trout/kok trolling rod that is two piece.  he uses some kind of
fancy join that is taken from the fly fishing world.

erik K. himself has a 9 foot two piece salmon trolling/mooching rod.

the 8 footer jig stick used-for-rockfish kind of affair might be one piece.

I realize some folks don't like 2 piece. I'm generally fine with them.

Mol, we'll hit it, I'm sure you'll be fine once you get comfortable with the launch. Probably some
kind of new-spot anxiety is fueling the quease.  since the skiffs can't fish the kelp, there is quite
a bit of good territory there to get wired, right in your backyard.
Maybe even next weekend for the opener if it's rough or super foggy up north.   

J

There are some longer rods out there with shorter rear grips.  I just picked up a Shimano Convergence Salmon Steelhead Mooching rod (CVC-M106M-2).  It's 10'6" and has a 12" foregrip and an 8.5" rear grip.    I did mate it with a single action knucklebuster canadian style mooching real.  I can't wait to give it a go!

-Allen

that's interesting! what do the guides look like?

I have a $17.50 10'6" cabelas depthmaster trolling rod. I just cut 6.5" off the handle as an experiment. 

The acid wrap is touted as producing less of those tip-tangles, when the line gets over an upward facing guide,
which are a real pain on a kayak with a long rod.

The guides are regular conventional style.

-Allen

That might end up being a favorite rod of yours.

If it had a trigger, more durable grip, and roberts (acid) wrap, it might be a pretty good all around rod for the kayak!
Any issues with using a conventional reel with it?

I haven't tried it with a conventional reel yet, but here's my thoughts.

I don't think you can cradle the reel easily as it is front heavy when holding it that way.  I suppose you could add counter weights to the butt, but the whole thing will get heavy.  If you're willing to change up how you hold the rod, it may work out.  You'd need to hold forward on the front grip, which is how you'd be doing it with a canadian style mooching reel.  For those of you that like to cast and cradle with one hand and reel with the other hand, you might not like this setup and you would need to transfer your grip.  But for those of us that like to cast right and switch to holding with the left, and reel with right, it should be doable to get used to holding the rod forward.

I'll try it sometime and let you know how it works.

-Allen

maybe the 8'5" mooching grip would be a bit short, I agree.

how far is it from the end of the rod to the axle on reel when you mount it up?

I think I like a 13" rear grip.  measured from butt end to axle of spool.

if you are measuring only cork, that might be 11". I wonder how they usually measure it?

given that I am mostly using left handed baitcasters (did convert 2, a left hand and right hand to non-level wind, another story):

If the rod is long and heavy like this 10'6 trolling rod,
I put my right hand on the foregrip instead of under the reel. I rest the butt of the rod against my
belt buckle, not under my arm like some folks. I use the left hand to operate the reel, including the thumbar/pushbutton.
yep, not much casting happening here.

The 15" of cork (16.75 from end to spool axle) on my 8.5' rod is okay,
there my right hand is behind the reel but on the trigger.  and that rod is very lightweight, so the balance is not too bad.
But any longer than that and the handle is getting in the way all the time.
still tempted to cut 3" off that one and maybe put 2 oz of lead in the butt of the rod to balance it.

After cutting 6.5" off the handle of my 10'6' trolling rod, the rear grip is 13" from butt to reel axle, just like any 7' rod.
feels way more manageable on the kayak. now it's just a 9'11.5" casting rod,  .

well, we'll see. this is the year for experimentation.