You can fish two rods on the st Croix and I always bring 4 rods fully rigged and ready to go. If catfishing I usually fish a flathead rod and a channel cat rod or if I am sturgeon fishing two sturgeon rods. I have the spare rods up in the overhead rod rack ready to go. As soon as I catch a fish and he is dumped out of the net and onto the deck I decide how long it is going to take to untangle the line, measure the fish, and then revive him back into the water. If I think it is going to take more than 5 minutes I just reach up, grab the spare rod, bait it up and get the hook back in the water. I can get a rod out, baited and in the water in under 2 minutes. Then I can take my time and deal with the fish on the deck and I am back to fishing with all my hooks in the water.
When the channel cats or the sturgeon are hitting it seems that they run in groups or pods. If you get one, then there is a good chance of another one fairly quickly. I have my boat well organized with bait always ready (cut or live), rods rigged, and rod holders available to hold any extra rods needed. Believe me it pays to have more than one rod ready to go – You don’t often get to hold up a double.
