best rod for trolling springers in a kayak

Not to derail the Salmon Rod discussion, but the longliner looks like a great tool, it says it will work on up to 10oz of lead also. Could easily save the added distance between the weight and flasher if it works well. Have you tried it yet?

+1 on pretty much everything snopro said. Tried one for koks, but didn't like the plasticy feel and the set up overall was more trouble than it's worth. Tying a bobber stop knot with heavy dacron line and pulling it TIGHT will do basically the same thing. As you reel in, the pressure of your first guide against the weight sleeve will slide the knot down the line. This works especially well for mooching. Simply tie a 3-4' leader to a swivel, then set the bobber stop above it to whatever length you prefer.



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the longliner looks like a great tool, it says it will work on up to 10oz of lead also. Could easily save the added distance between the weight and flasher if it works well. Have you tried it yet?

I have used one for trout, kokes and steelhead.  They work great for fishing down 6' and back 100'.  They are a little plasticity and I wonder about durability.   I only used mine twice and realized I liked a downrigger better.

For salmon they might work well with skateboard style flashers where increased length between the flasher and weight can change the amount of kick delivered to the hook.

For fishing triangle flashers most people fish the weight on a slider directly in front of the flasher with a longer leader than the skateboard style.  It wouldn't be much help in shortening the overall length between salmon and net.

I used the LongLiner at B10 for salmon this year and it worked great.  It allowed me to eliminate the 18-24 inch bumper before the triangle (KoneZone) flasher. That is why I tried it.  That, and because I had one laying around.  I did not know it said it was "good up to 10 oz".  I was running 16 oz and had no problem.  Good thing I don't read instructions, or i would have had a hard time getting the bait to the bottom.

That being said, sorry for the thread jack.

My two cents......

Make sure your rod is long enough that you can fight the fish when he goes across the bow of the kayak. Too short a rod and this will be a pain to land him.

I sucked last year on chrome but did learn a lot about tackle and tactics. The length of rod to some degree is determined by the length of your leader.

For pulling superbaits behind a full size dodger, leaders are pretty long and a 10 1/2' rod is preferred. Because it may take 10-16 oz of weight to keep this rig near the bottom, the rod should be rated to at least 12 ounces. Lamiglas and Berkeley both make a rod for this application but the Lamiglas is over $200 and the Berkeley is around $100.

For pulling bait behind a rotary flasher, 8 1/2 - 10 1/2' are good options. The longer more parabolic rods allow for a more delicate bait presentation when they are in the chewing mode. 8 1/2' used to be the most common rod length but may are moving to longer rods.

For pulling plugs like hot shots or mag lips, a 7 1/2 - 8 1/2' moderate action rod work well.

Of course if fishing really sucks, it don't matter how long your rod is. ha ha I hope the Columbia run is better than predicted.

I have pulled up to 16 oz of weight with a flasher on a 1-6 oz rod with no problem (B10 fishing).  That being said, I do not cast it. I let it spool out while trolling. I like bendier rods. 

I prefer shorter rods and I tighten up the lengths from dropper to flasher and leader. My go-to trolling rod in a Shimano Trevala 7' 10-30 lb jigging rod. Its bendy but stiffer than all the aforementioned rods. I've personally caught over 30 kings on that rod and have not noticed a higher failure to hookup ratio than fishing with softer longer rods (which I've also used extensively in kayaks and powerboats). Short rods are just much easier to deal with than longer rods in kayak. Kayak anglers, especially those new to the sport, tend to high stick more often. I've seen plenty of long 2 piece rods become 3 piece rods when kayak salmon fishing.