I will fish all of mine out the back if I am by myself and the longest rods I run is 14'. When I have someone to fish with me, like I usually do I will run 6 out the front and 6 out the back. Reason being is because I will add my 16' and 18' rods in the mix. When using the really long rods to cover water it is sometimes hard to net the fish. With the long rods up front you can reel in the fish from the front and have your partner net them off the back. My net is only 12ft long so trying to net a fish by myself that is on a 18' rod is almost impossible.