Travel setup

[FishTax]

I'm interested to know who keeps a travel setup most of the time in their vehicle? If you do, is it a junk rod or something nice? What types of water are you stopping at? I've been looking at Google maps trying to find possible public ponds to hit on lunch break, etc., and thinking about what gear I may keep in truck to scratch the itch when it pops up. I'm thinking about a 2 piece rod with a tiny tackle box and 1 bag of trick worms. 

[casts_by_fly]

I usually carry a 7' light spinning rod in the truck with a small handful of jigs and plastics, maybe a spinner or two and a small rapala.  I'll throw a small chest pack of trout hooks/splitshot/eggs in there as well since I have to cross a trout stream every time I leave the house.

[bulldog1935]

Never keep anything in vehicle.  

But I have fly rod, stream trout (endemic bass), and 5-pc bass rod that fit in a bike half-frame bag.  Um, of course they're all Japanese

 

 

 

the big front bag fits wading boots....or, a 15-l ice mule and a 6-pack

 

[TLHSS]

I don’t keep items in my vehicle, but I only fish with travel rods (both spin and fly).  All under 24 inches when broken down. All my tackle, including two reels, fit in a tackle box that’s 14 x 7 x 5. Makes it very easy to load up in the car for a leisurely drive where I might fish or to actually go fishing. The equipment is not throw away … custom rods, Vanford and Orvis reels. I like to fish with good equipment regardless of where I travel. 

[DaveT63]

I used to keep a 2-pc St Croix MF spinning rod and Shimano Sahara reel in the trunk of my Corvette to fish the ponds I would fish on my way to/from work every day.  Worked well for what I needed.

[softwateronly]

I have a casting 6'9M/F MC Days 2 piece that spent last spring in my car along with a messenger bag w/ small jigs, hooks, weights, and soft plastics.  Allows me to easily hit the harbors for smallmouth when they're in shallow and I have time.  Great rod at a great price from digitaka at $135 ish.  

 

scott

[padlin]

I don’t keep it in the car but put it in when I think I may use it. It’s a St Croix spinning 7’ MF 3 pc Tidemaster, being an inshore rod I can used it for salt or fresh. The normal reel is a Capricorn 2500, somewhat of a beater, but good and heavy duty, and saltwater capable. The rods a little stiff but still works fine for my needs. Have a 2pc Ugly Stick ultra light if I want to try for trout, it’s got a little 500 size reel, don’t recall what that is though. It’s pouring out and I’m not going to go look.

[ATA]

Good topic. I do have travel setup and I always having it with me. I use high quality rods and reel and I have Ultra light spinning and BFS casting and I have medium/medium heavy casting and spinning and heavy casting. My travel bag and gear in it with more than $10000 😅.

I can fish smallest streams and go big in ocean and anything between with my travel gears.

1-Nasci ultra light Rod Nsci spinning reel Combo

2-M-ARE glass BFS Rod Shimani conquest BFS reel Combo

3-Abu Garcia maquiz telescoping BFS rod with Shimano Aldebaran BFS reel Combo

4-G-loomise GLX spinning rod Shimano Excence real Combo

5-St.Croix Legend Casting Rod Shimano TranX 300 reel Combo

6- Shimano Shaula Rod Shimano Scorpion DC reel Combo

 

Yes I have six combo to cover everything, Plus liners and lures for emergency. I didn't want to open each single one. let me know if you want to see any pictures.

[FishTax]

@ATA wow! That's quite the setup. I like the idea of a travel bfs setup, I still haven't figured out how I want to use my bfs gear but that may be the answer! For travel I was thinking m/f ugly stick spinning lol

[new2BC4bass]

When I do carry travel rods they are 2-pice rods.  An Olympic GraphiteLeader 6' 9" MHF casting rod with a Daiwa Zillion PE with 40# braid and a Major Craft Benkei 6' 7" LF spinning rod with a Daiwa BG 1500 loaded with 5# braid.

[jdr99a]

I keep a tfo traveler mh rod and a Shimano slx spooled with 15lb fluorocarbon ready to go. I’ve got a Fanny pack with a few speedworms and paddletails and a small box of terminal tackle. That covers 95% of what I’d need if I got a wild hair to stop somewhere. 

[bulldog1935]

@jdr99a The TFO Traveler is a good rod.  

I snagged the Cabelas version built on the same blank, closing out for $57.  

It's normally in my kayak bow hold (along with a TackleDirect Silver Hook spinning rod), and it finished a great long-weekend trip for me when a redfish and I together broke my first 13Fishing Omen Green on a surface snag and high-stick set at my feet.  

 

@new2BC4bass - it wasn't too sad - like I said, finished a great weekend.  

When I called 13Fishing asking about their discount replacement, told them my story - my fault, bad reaction, right when the redfish exploded.  They said fishing break is warranty.  I cut out the rod label section and mailed it in, had a new rod in 10 days.  

[Fishing_Rod]

Greetings All,

I keep them handy and available. Unfortunately given the temperatures and conditions here in Arizona it is not practical to keep things in the truck because of the oven like environment during parts of the year. It is very hard on lubricants and polymers. The heat seriously degrades the fishing line too. Which is why they don’t reside in the vehicle. 

 

At the ready,  I have several editions of the Daiwa Mini-Cast and Mini-Spin kits. One set is from the mid 70’s the other set is a more current version. All are great fun to use when goofing about Arizona. They are not heavy and travel well. The polymer travel box protects the reel, rod, and assorted lures during transit. Setup is quick and I’m usually able to be working the water within a minute. The cost of these kits is pretty easy on my budget too. 

 

The spinning reel is good to go out of the box. The spin cast reel needed some attention (older and newer versions). The drag setting was very touchy out of the box, either not enough or just too much all within a fraction of a turn. Then I realized the drag elements were dry so I tried a small amount of oil and that was all that was needed to improve the situation and now lubricated it provides better range of drag control settings. 

 

The mini-spin and mini-cast have been great as an ultra-lite angling travel option for freshwater species. They were so handy to me which is why I bought a newer edition just to make sure I’d always have a set. So far I just use each of them frequently when traveling. Old or new, great fun to use. 

 

Now that being said most of my principle angling equipment travels well too. I usually keep rod lengths at or below 5.5 feet. That length transports well in my double cab pickup truck or in my kayak. 

 

Wishing each of well and all the best for that traveling angling kit. Cheers!

[iiTzChunky]

I have bought 2 telescoping rods from kastking to keep in my car all the time. And just recently broke one of them from stepping on it., while I'll buy a new one I'm going to buy a casting and spinning 2 pc rod set up, I 3d printed some hooks that I can put around the head rests in the back of my suv so I can keep my set ups with me at all times.only thing I'm worried about is since I soley bank fish, I have a backpack of gear and I melted my soft plastics last yr idk if it was from the heat in the car during summer months, or if it was bc I took them out of the original packages and put them in my soft plastic bags. 

[GRiver]

I keep a telescopic baitcaster, with a spare spool to switch to BFS. It’s very cheap, got it from Ali express for $38.00. I was surprised how well it works.

[Bankc]

I usually fish on my lunch break at a "lake" (really more of a big pond, but the city owns it and call it a lake).  I typically will pack whatever I think I might need that day based on the weather.  Or, more accurately, that week, as I don't swap out mid week too often.  I can fit a one piece rod in my car, but generally prefer to bring along a 2 piece rod so it doesn't extend into the driver's seat area (I can load a 2 piece rod sideways in the trunk).  And I usually just bring one bait, sometimes two.  Since I'm fishing on my lunch break, if I break off and lose a lure, I call it quits for the day and bring something else for tomorrow.  After I've driven there and eaten, I usually have maybe 15-20 minutes to fish.  Sometimes as much as 30.  So I'm not too upset if it's over after the first cast.  Besides, I'll be back tomorrow.  

 

I like to keep it simple.  Since I'm fishing there almost every day, I don't feel like I have to maximize my time there or fear making a bad decision.  My main goal isn't to catch fish.  It's to go fishing and relieve some of the stress of work.  If I catch a fish, even better!   It's more important that I get my mind off work than anything else.  

 

I've found it's an especially good time to learn a new technique.  You can experiment with something over the course of several weeks in multiple conditions and find out what works and what doesn't.  And since you're not there long, you don't get frustrated or feel the need to switch to something more familiar, as you're going to very rarely catch anything.  I mean, it's 15 minutes at a pressured lake, fishing from the bank, at high noon.  That's about as bad of a worst-case scenario as they come.