Rod position whe trolling?

[Biggameaddict]

i want to outfit the yak. right now i got a prowler 13 with the front hatch and the round 6 inch hatch. i got no rod holders except one scotty in front. i hear people like the ram tubes but kinda pricey at 40$ a holder, how do those ram 2008's hold up? i need a couple rod holder for halibut drifting/trolling, and trolling live bait for yt and wsb. what are your setups for surf launching and trolling? any reccomendations would be cool. hows the yt and wsb bite at la jolla this time of year? thanks and good night.

[Caffeind]

The RAM 2008's will move and pivot on the ball with a good fish on them for sure...I don't know if you can crank them down tight enough to stop this. Definitely leash your rod if you mount it in such a way that it can break the plain and face the water. I use them on an Outback in the molded pockets so they can only drop so far and stay vertical, which makes them OK to use IMO. I've had sub 10lb halibut drag the rod holder around, left to right, on the ball tho.

[taggermike]

I have always used flush mount. They are tough and hold the rods well. The draw back is that they are not adjustable. The angle they are is what you have. Flush mounts can't (usually) hold the rod out and more parallel to the water. I like this when trolling livebait. I have seen angled rod holders placed in to the flush mouts to give greater angles. When trolling live bait with the clicker on the rod holder doesn't get stressed much but if you're trolling a lure on heavy line in gear the stress when a fish hits is much greater. Maybe have one of each??

As for securing rods for a surf launch, for me it depends on conditions. On flat days I just leave them in the verticle rod holders. If its bigger I will put them down the hatch. I find landings to much more stress inducing. Punching out usually just depends on paddle/peddling hard and keeping the bow of the yak pointed straight in to the waves. Landing is where things can go wrong and go wrong fast. Mike

[Biggameaddict]

Thanks for the input. Ill probably mount a couple flush mounts in the front and back and maybe a ram tube style holder later on.