How Many Rod Holders Does a Boat Need?

Some modern fishing boats have fishing rod holders lining the gunwales from stem to stern, and others come with a mere two in the stern. Which begs the question: Just how many fishing rod holders does a boat need?

Naturally, personal preference plus a range of variables comes into play. Still, we’d be hard pressed to think of a time when we looked at a boat and thought it had too many rod holders. So, what’s the minimum? Some anglers believe that at least one rod holder per foot of length overall is a good benchmark.

We like that rule of thumb, but let’s take things a little bit farther and try to nail down an ideal number.