I see that many folk have placed their rod holders behind the cockpit. This makes sense from the point of view of keeping them out of the way, but how do you know when you get a strike? I suppose some would use the sound of the drag ratchet, but mine is silent.

I tried a flush mount Berkley on the front of the cockpit, but just as warned in many forums, one has to be careful when making a turn because the rod can pop out. Any ideas? I have searched the board, but haven’t found anything that seems to solve both problems.

cheers!

Behind cockpit
When I had rod holders bejind my cockpit, that for storing extra rods, not for trolling. I don’t troll much, but prefer active presentations whole holdong the rod.



To troll, you have a couple options. The simplest works only if you are using a SinK and no skirt. Jam the rod butt under your crotch and rest it on the combing. The second easiest option is to put an additional rod holder on yhe front deck of your kayak. You have to have an adequate combination of being limber and arm length to reach the rod.



Good luck with ehatever you decide.

My rod holders in front

I built a low sided, open bottomed square "box" that fits on the flat deck of my velocity kayak right in front of the cockpit. Everything attaches to the box.

Into the sides of the 3" high box walls I have drilled holes, cut notches all around the top on all sides and screwed in bases for detachable rod holders in several places. Also have half rings on the near side to hold my paddle sideways right in front of me or it can lie lenthwise in some of the notches on the top edges of the box walls.

The open bottom of the box allows access to the bungee cords across that part of the deck. I attach lanyards to them or just stuff water bottles etc. under one of the bungees to hold it in place.

On each corner of the box, the cross walls extend past the corners about 2" and each of those extensions has a one inch diameter hole drilled in it. The box is sized so that the corners fit right over the bungee attachment corners on the deck.

With releasable cable ties run through the holes in the box corners and around under the converging bungees on each corner, I can attach or remove the whole box in a minute, restoring the kayak deck to factory specs. Ask for releasable cable ties. They exist.

In my cockpit, the rods are within easy reach with barely a lean forward.

I am lousy at pics, and the box is ugly, made on the spur of the moment from some unplaned 1x3" cedar fence board as a prototype... that is still functioning several years later!

Rod Holder Placement
You can put the rod behind your seat. There are disadvantages to that.

1. You can’t see a strike. Maybe it’s not a big deal if the clicker on your reel is very loud and you can hear it over the water and wind…
   
2. It seems more likely to get caught in a rudder before you even get the rod into your hands to fight the fish. Not a major concern at all and definitely debatable.
   
   
   
   I troll with the rod right in front of me so I can see a strike or if fishing shallow water if my lure ticks the bottom or gets hung up on weeds/seaweed.
   
   
   
   The main trick is, don’t set the drag on the reel very high and turn on the clicker.

Rod holders

I made a board about 18" wider than the boat ( Loon 138) and clamped it across the cowling using hardware from a removable canoe carry thwart. I then mounted two RAM rod holders at the end of the boards. I used this setup for years for trolling at night for walleye and for trolling striped bass with tube and worm. The rig was solid enough to take the strain from 40" stripers.
I also mounted my removable sonar on the center of this board and cut slots in it for pliers, de hooker and boga grip.
Hope that helps.