Fixing your rods to your kayak

Hi guys,

After numerous excursions in my kayak the past few weeks, I lost my best spinning rod and reel over the side of my kayak up at Texoma this past week. I never had it secured to my kayak, and my YaAttack rest came off the track, The rest came lose, and my gear went in the drink.

How do you guys secure your rods? I normally fish with 3 or 4 poles on my kayak, and curious if you all secure all of them of just the one your using?

Appreciate any advice and tips. That was a $200 mistake and cant afford it happening again.

Use rod floats or leashes. Both have their proponents.

I use a small loop bungie and loop it over the reel when they're in tube holders. Otherwise I try to slide the reel/handle part of the pole under the seat when I'm paddling. I don't use anything on them when I'm actually fishing and just got in the habit of not leaving anything loose on the "deck" that doesn't float or I don't mind losing.

Personally I use no leashes or floats. I am not fond of the idea of somehow flipping and drowning tangled in rod leashes. The pack of rod floats they sell in the packages dont float my rods. I have lost a few in all my years of fishing but none that killed me to loose. It does hurt, and most times is expensive but mabey some little kid fishing with his dad will find it and go have a blast catching fish.

I'm relatively new to yak fishing and didn't start with any tethers or floats. I tried a tether and hated it and don't want to dull down the sensitivity of a good rod with a float strapped to it. But after a few trips decided it would be smart to have something. I ended up cutting 5" pieces of pool noodle and cutting a slit lengthwise that I can slide over the rod when I put it back in the holder, but take off easily enough when using it. I've been doing this a few trips now and last week it saved a $500 combo from sinking.

Thanks y'all for the good advice.

I was super concerned about this when I was shopping for a kayak. I insisted on a model with internal rod tubes. Sounds like you already have a kayak so I would try to rig up some tubes and attach them to the outside of your boat.

I do not use leashes for the safety issue mentioned above.