Best distance ?

There may be too many variables for any one answer,but what is the best distance from bow to rod tip for spider rigging ? In my case,I'm in kayak.
In order to balance my kayak,( I use a Trolling motor ),and still reach my rods comfortably,I can muster 7' of rod past the bow,with 7' inside.One variable is water clarity,in my area,most would say the water stays on the murky side,with visibility no more the 2' often a bit less,perhaps 1' ( if that helps ).

2 factors to consider and they work in combination.
1) Clearer the water, the further away the tips should be. The murkier the water, the less rod tip distance matters.
2) The deeper your fishing, the less rod tip distance matters. The shallower the water, the more rod tip distance matters.

You already stated your water is murky. How deep are you fishing? Deep- your fine. Shallow- longer rods might help. Assuming you are having problems now. Longer rods introduce other problems, like storage and management.

Maybe I'm not grasping the situation, here .... but :

Exactly how LONG is that yak, anyway ?? I mean, if you have 7ft of rod between the holder and the bow .... :scratchhead

And I'm assuming you're using 14ft rods (by your math) ... and yaks are supposed to be stealthy, and don't present a very big "profile" on the surface ... so why not angle the rods out more to the sides ?? You'd get a wider swath of water covered, and get the rod tips farther away from the yak at the same time. Plus, with the separation distance, you're less likely to get lines tangled if you stick one of those "feisty" fishes that likes to go crazy.

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Originally Posted by CrappiePappy

Maybe I'm not grasping the situation, here .... but :

Exactly how LONG is that yak, anyway ?? I mean, if you have 7ft of rod between the holder and the bow .... :scratchhead

And I'm assuming you're using 14ft rods (by your math) ... and yaks are supposed to be stealthy, and don't present a very big "profile" on the surface ... so why not angle the rods out more to the sides ?? You'd get a wider swath of water covered, and get the rod tips farther away from the yak at the same time. Plus, with the separation distance, you're less likely to get lines tangled if you stick one of those "feisty" fishes that likes to go crazy.

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My kayak is 12',with battery,gear,and myself positioned properly for weight distribution,and my poles mounted in holders on my dashboard,it gives me the 7' from the bow.I can use 4 rods with my set up,my two front poles have aprox 4' clearence between tips,I run two more shorter rods,one on each side.
Unless you've fished from a kayak much,it may be difficult to visualize the close quarters that comes with the stealthiness,it's a give and take thing.

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Originally Posted by Yaker

My kayak is 12',with battery,gear,and myself positioned properly for weight distribution,and my poles mounted in holders on my dashboard,it gives me the 7' from the bow.I can use 4 rods with my set up,my two front poles have aprox 4' clearence between tips,I run two more shorter rods,one on each side.
Unless you've fished from a kayak much,it may be difficult to visualize the close quarters that comes with the stealthiness,it's a give and take thing.

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Understood :ThumbsUp .... you are basically bound to the 7' margin by the positioning of the holder & rod length vs length of yak, so the only way you'd get a greater distance in front of the bow would be to use 16' or 20' rods. Personally, I wouldn't worry about it. I'm pushing jigs out of a 16' ProCraft Bass Boat, fishing mildly to moderately stained waters, and many times my jigs are basically right underneath the boat ... and I still catch fish. Even when I'm casting, I still catch fish Vertical Casting right under the boat and/or casting back to a spot that I've just run over with the boat. Many times that's in less than 15fow.

Thanks Pappy,my 14' rods are all I can handle,any longer rods would be out of the question in a kayak.