What is the Point of Rod Sleeves/Socks?

[DEPS_250]

Does anyone in here use rod sleeves/socks? Are there any advantages/pros to using them? I understand their purpose and place but at the same I don't see any advantages or positives of using them. In my opinion, they seem like more work and more of a nuisance than actually helping anything. I mean...

 

1. If you have a lot of setups in a arsenal that you like to bring with you fishing all the time, then that is a lot of sleeves/socks to take off/on and eventually you will need to find a space to store these things. I feel like it's more of a hassle and just takes away from precious fishing time/enjoyment. 

2. If you're somewhat a hardcore/regular fisherman and go fishing a lot, your rod is eventually going to get abused/scratched/scuffed one way or another anyways. Therefore, it's going to get damaged any way no matter what, even if you use a rod sock/sleeve just for the transportation and storage time/places.

 

So...Why waste the money on them if the rod is going to end up getting abused/damaged anyway if your using them day in and day out like your supposed to? 

 

I feel like rods being abused/scratched/scuffed is inescapable/inevitable in fishing and will not really help in the long run. I am hard on my gear and I am one of those 'treat my gear like a tool' kind of guy. Therefore, the rod sleeves/socks have always seemed like a gimmick to me intended to take more money away from me and into the hands of other people. 

 

Who here feels different and/or can vouch for rod sleeves/socks? Who here feels the same as me? I am all confused and I am trying to see if these things are worth my time and money. 

[ironbjorn]

Guide and tip protection taking rods in and out of rod lockers. They also absorb abuse when you have rods in the back of the truck heading for some bank fishing, all that bouncing around. They have merit.

[Jig Man]

I use them to keep the rods from getting tangled up in my undivided locker.  I also color code them by setup technique use. For example, if I want 1/8 oz swim bait setups I grab the ones in the blue socks.

 

In my divided locker I have to have them to protect the guides when taking rods out or putting them in. 
 

When I am meeting someone I carry 4-6 setups in the passenger area of my truck, (short bed 7.5’ rods don’t fit).  The socks prevent tangles.  That is also true for when I am fishing in another guy’s boat.  They keep the rods from being tangled.  By only taking one off at a time they don’t get in the way.

 

Like you, one of the guys that I fish with doesn’t use them.  He piles his rods.  The air turns blue when he reaches for one and it is all tangled up with the others.

[Cbump]

1. My cheapest setup is $300 up to $600, so yeah I don’t buy into just abusing them because I’m hardcore. 
2. It takes about 4 seconds per rod so not really a hassle. 
3. Rod socks are cheap. Majority of my setups have neoprene or original Rod Sox which were about $7. 
4. and most importantly, when you have 20 rods in a rod box, those socks keep guided from catching on each other, makes them easily slide in and out of the rod dividers without catching a guide, and keeps your rods from tangling up. 

 

 

 

4 hours ago, DEPS_250 said:

Therefore, it's going to get damaged any way no matter what, even if you use a rod sock/sleeve just for the transportation and storage time/places.

I mean, you do you and if you don’t like them, no biggie.  But I’ve been fishing a long time and my rods have never magically scuffed while in my hands. 

[A-Jay]

I take care of my tackle best I can.

Stick Jackets are an important part of that.

Highly recommended

A-Jay

[optimator]

I use them. I’ve spent too much money on my gear to not keep it protected. I even put 5 reel covers on my last TW order. I don’t have a rod locker in my boat so I want everything protected when I’m towing. 

[gim]

1 hour ago, Jig Man said:

I use them to keep the rods from getting tangled up in my undivided locker.

My parents use the socks for this exact reason.  They have 16 spots, and they have more rod n reels than that combined, so they took out the dividers/tubes and now they can stack them in there without worrying about tangling.

 

I don't personally use them, as I still use my dividers/tubes.

 

Some people use protective reel covers too.

[FrnkNsteen]

I started using them as I carried more and more rods in the rod locker and got tired of them getting tangled in each other.

 

I use the ones from Academy that sell for $4.99 a piece. Cheap investment to protect rods costing $100 - $300. I bought solid colored ones for the shorter rods and shortened them to fit without catching the lures. Striped covers go on rods longer than 7'. That way I don't keep track of which goes on which. Just solid colirs ob rods under 7' and striped on rods over 7'.

 

Only takes a few minutes to load them back on at the end of the day. If someone chooses to tear up their tools and not take care of them, that's their choice, but I've learned over the years to taje care of my investments.

1 minute ago, gimruis said:

Some people use protective reel covers too.

I do that too on my more expensive reels or ones that are known to scratch easily like my older Daiwa TDZ's and TD Fuegos. They are pretty cheap at TW and fit left hand reels nicely!

[Darth-Baiter]

It’s magic how a  bunch of rods next to each other will tangle up. Rods intertwine with line, etc.  

 

sleeves will stop that evil magic

[gunsinger]

I scoffed at the use of them initially but, now I don't have a rod in my rod locker without one.  Rods are too expensive.  I leave the sleeve in the tube as I extract the rod.  It makes inserting them back easier and I don't have to worry about where to store them.  

[bp_fowler]

I am almost exclusively a bank angler and I use them. Some of the spots I fish require me to hike through some pretty dense brush and after about the umpteenth millionth time getting my line caught in a bush or wrapped around a tree branch I decided a few rod socks were a good investment.

[JediAmoeba]

When you have a stack of 20 rods in the back of your van nothing makes me happier than being able to pull a rod out without hitting guides or getting caught in the line

[Johnbt]

They provide good protection in the back of the truck for the ride down the 1.5 miles of potholed graveled farm road - farm, not house road - and carrying them around and putting them in the boat, but I like the protection of neoprene when I back the trailer over the bank and push the 16' boat off. Actually, pulling it out after loading probably bounces stuff around a lot more. Dern sticky slick clay. And the only good spot is uphill.

 

 https://rodwarriorusa.com/t/rod-sleeves

 

Sunday we're driving 7 hours to the Outer Banks and my rods need protection from my wife and dog.

 

In the old days they built sturdy rods that didn't break very often. They called them broomhandles.

[MN Fisher]

Everything people above have said. My locker is undivided so the socks

1: Keep rods from becoming tangled

2: Protect the guides

3: I color code, so I can just grab a rig from that instead of having to look at the rod/reel

 

I also use reel covers so they don't bang up against each other in the locker.

 

When I take a cover/sock off a rig to put it on the deck...the cover and sock just get dropped into the locker.

[AmmoGuy]

Undivided locker here as well. 

I cannot imagine NOT using socks. No tangles, no guide snags or damage. 

[volzfan59]

I like to take care of my stuff so I use them, neoprene reel covers too. In the rod racks (in the shop) I use the BPS nylon sleeves. In the boat I use the harder sleeves like @A-Jay has pictured. Good angling gear isn't cheap, I want mine to last mechanically and to look as good as possible. 

[Mike L]

You don’t need 20+ rods or $500+ ones to justify using them. 
I like keeping my equipment clean and always in good working order regardless of how many I have and how much they cost. 
 

It may be “inescapable/inevitable”

that they will “abused/scratched/scuffed”

But a little cheap protection will go a long way to minimize it


 

 

 

 

Mike

[MN Fisher]

Just now, Mike L said:

You don’t need 20+ rods or $500+ ones to justify using them. 

Yep-yep

 

I even use them on my crappie gear - and one of the rigs is a $35 Wally Marshall reel on a $40 Okuma Celilo rod...take care of your gear, no matter the initial cost, and it'll take care of you.

[Catt]

11 hours ago, DEPS_250 said:

I am one of those 'treat my gear like a tool

 

I'm a Master Carpenter,  a ASE certificated auto mechanic, a A&P certificated aviation mechanic, & a Certified Manufacturing Engineer (CMfgE).

 

First thing I was taught, “A Place for Everything & Everything in its Place”.

 

My Dad was a WWII Navy veteran, if I didn't follow that, I walked funny for awhile!

[Mbirdsley]

Yeah I was in the no rod sleeve camp for a long time.  However,  once I started having multi $300-400 combos.  I wanted to protect my investment.

 

 I don’t have rod lockers on my boat .  So my combos either get laid on the main deck or my truck bed when being transported. There is a difference between “the years of fighting fish look” on gear rather than “ my rods have been sliding around in the truck bed “look. 

 

I usually take 7-8 combos with me:  it takes about 5 minutes to get them out and into the sleeves. 

[Bird]

I have 12 combos in the rod locker, without rod sleeves profanity would be inevitable.

[A-Jay]

2 hours ago, Catt said:

My Dad was a WWII Navy veteran, if I didn't follow that, I walked funny for awhile!

Mine too @Catt

And I'd consider myself lucky if I could even walk at all . . . .

My dad didn't say much but what he did say, he meant.

A-Jay

[webertime]

https://rodprotech.com/

This guy's products cover the gamut.  All of his socks do what most others do but... several of the models do something really cool that you don't think about.  His socks with built in lure wrap covers the bait and keeps the hooks from one rod nicking the line on others.  That's a cool piece of Insurance.  He has others with built in reel covers that keep hooks and reels from smashing others.   Super cool product. 

[Catt]

39 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Mine too @Catt

 

With in coming enemy aircraft wasn't the time to look for something or think darn I should have cleaned that!

[volzfan59]

6 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

Yep-yep

 

I even use them on my crappie gear - and one of the rigs is a $35 Wally Marshall reel on a $40 Okuma Celilo rod...take care of your gear, no matter the initial cost, and it'll take care of you.

Me too! My panfish rods are all in socks, reels protected by covers.