Hi there

I am wondering whether anybody had already the pleasure to build high quality travel rods.

While there are thousands of one piece blanks available on the market for thousands of application, most manufacturers are carrying only a few travel blanks. if any, and then they do not match at all with the one piece blank series.

When I am at home, I love to fish my one piece rods, however it is becoming more and more impossible to take them on the plane. The transporting fees are almost reaching the value of the rods.
For traveling I have built some rods which were available as three-piece-blanks, but they are just not the same as I am used to. So here is my weird idea: cutting a "well known" one-piece blank and join the pieces with bras ferrules used for fly rods.

Would that be feasible to build let's say a 6'6" - 4 piece casting rod but still maintaining "high quality"? I have tried it earlier on a PacBay blank with carbon pin so that the upper part goes on the pin, but it was a heck of a work to get that pin in place and having a snug seat. Since the pin was like 3 mm, it didn't took long until it broke....

Maybe obvious, but you may want to look into fly rod blanks and resort to fly fishing or make them into high end spinning rods. There are plenty of combinations of pieces and lengths. They also use some of the most advanced materials for construction.

Adding any sort of metal ferrule to a rod is going to result in a much different animal that what you started with. The weight alone tends to be objectionable in this modern age.

.........

I didn't thought yet looking at fly blanks. from my gutt feeling they are supposed to be more on the slow side? maybe not.

The added weight through the ferrules though is actually one of the things I am scared off. Plus there is one clicking sound in my mind when I remember back in my childhood when I was holding the heavy old bamboo rod from my grandpa. (I think the ferrules jus did not fit right)

Might be able to help further if we knew what your used to, you left that part out, lots of different style blanks out there.

If you don't like the actions of currently available spinning or casting travel rods, you will like travel fly rods used for spinning or casting even less.

all though the selection of 2 piece blanks is mostly limited to spinning rods IT is just a blank given a specification and doesn't it can't be made in to a casting rod A blank is just that a blank what style of rod you build is your choice.
you can all so buy one piece rods and build your own ferrules from scrap pieces of blanks if your willing and advanced enough to do it.

The best day to be alive is always tomorrow !!
Think out side the box when all else fails !!!
Wi.

Mudhole carries a number of "travel blanks" by various manufacturers, check them out on the left.

Or you could look at the Batson SWT series. I take them to Baja. Still have to go as checked baggage but very nice blanks.

the whole reason I started building rods was because I wanted travel rods I couldn't find in stores. For me, that now means a rod I can fit in a carry on rollerboard. Lots of choices in short length 4 piece in the very light blanks. less if you want heavier rods. last 2 i build were on rodgeeks blanks. I like those but they were set up spinning so not sure they will fit your application. What size lures do you want to cast? What are you fishing for? Can you go longer piece lengths?

travel rods there are some or was a couple of years back like a 6 piece or 7 piece fly rod that should fit in a standard suit case , don't know if they still make the blanks , but they did

William Sidney
AK

Ryan White of Hatteras Jacks and Zeno Heronen tesed several Surf Style Travel blanks while in Costa Rica or Mexico. They seemed to Work VERY WELL! Century I believe



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/22/2017 12:30AM by Barry Thomas Sr.

Not really an answer to your question but maybe a solution to your problem. Why not just ship your rods ahead of you?

Adam, with all due respect, trusting my custom made rods to any shipping company or airline is something I consider way too risky. Expensive, hard to replace rods lost, stolen, or broken, getting to the destination to find that the rods are not there. In some countries fishing tackle is so hard to come by that anything identified as tackle is very desirable to the local customs folks. And it mysteriously never gets to the destination. I would not recommend that option.

Not trusting the airlines?? I fly Alaska and you can't take a rod on board except as checked baggage, won't matter if it's 2 feet long in a case. Checked baggage. Thousands of miles in a Bazooka tube......one broken tip and that was my fault in packing..

Not trusting the airlines?? I fly Alaska and you can't take a rod on board except as checked baggage, won't matter if it's 2 feet long in a case. Checked baggage. Thousands of miles in a Bazooka tube......one broken tip and that was my fault in packing..

Sorry for that double...old eyes, dumb fingers.

That's totally understandable, although if you're paying close to the value of your rod to take it on a plane maybe you could use that money to build a "travel" set that wouldn't crush your soul if it were to get lost/broken. It wasn't clear what type of traveling you'd be doing in your original post but yeah there's definitely some places I wouldn't trust either but that's what insurance is for, I suppose,

I understand the issue quite well, especially of international travel. I also concluded long ago that the multi-piece rod that can be carried into the cabin is the best answer.

Several dimensions:

1) It matters as much where you are going THROUGH, as where you are going. In other words your checked gear will be subject to attrition every time, and in every place your plane lands. Your stuff is especially vulnerable with plane changes while in transit, even moreso in "developing" countries.
2) Insurance is only useful after your trip. If you "lose" or break your gear when you are thousands miles away from a place that you can buy decent replacement gear, insurance is of little comfort. What's important is getting into and staying in battery: for this the KISS principle applies (Keep It Simple and Stupid)
3) Most airlines will allow in the cabin an object up to about the size of an umbrella in addition to your carry on bag. Let's call an umbrella approximately one meter in length. What this means is your rods need to break into about that length or less.
4) There's a lot you can do with this idea:
a) Use a 2 piece blank. This will get you up to about a 7 ft rod if you feel like stretching the concept. There's a lot you can accomplish with a rod of approximately 2 meters.

b) Use a one piece blank, cut down to a meter or less, then build a detachable butt section. This works especially well for salt water boat rods.

c) Use a two piece blank, but build a detachable butt into which the top two sections fit. A metal ferrule can be used, if you are less confident about your abilities to build a glass-to-glass ferrule. A person can squeeze almost 3 meters for rod length out of this. This is a solution I use for surf rods. Just this summer I built a 5 piece surf rod almost 3 meters in length using a 4-piece blank with an added butt section, for big beaches south of the Equator.

d) Buy a purpose made travel blank. Good luck on that as there are precious few places that sell them - Mudhole being notable.

e) Charkbait! is a good place for ready made travel rods. They understand what's important.

....and more.

Only now it seems is the world waking up to the need for quality travel fishing rods.

When you have completed the rod, rather than put it into a sturdy rod case (I build my own out of PVC), put it into a map case you can find at office supply stores. Lots of travelers travel with blueprints, photos and rolled up paintings. These don't get a second glance. The object is to not attract attention to yourself.

I could go on and on, but my choices over the past decades have been driven by the lack of market availability. So necessity is the mother of invention. A rod builder can do well in this undeveloped market.

Finally, I carry my reels and all non-objectionable (pointy) terminal tackle in my carry on bag, but always bring spare line in checked bags. Security officials (Mexico comes to mind) have been known to strip line off reels (huh? really?) so having extra line in the checked bags keep you in the game....



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/30/2017 09:37AM by Philip Engle.

Hey Guys!
Thank you for your answers and opinions.

What I do for international traveling: I have built a rod case, 83 cm long. this is going into a semi soft suitcase. It is a rather lean and longish sport bag with rollers. The terminal tackle and stuff is going as well in there. It is incredible though how fast I reach the maximum bag weight ;)

The reels I am carrying always in the carryon. I have heared a lot of stories because of the line but never had really problems with it.

I have a pretty good arsenal of travel rods, from MHX, the saltwater trio from rainshadow, some CTS and Jaws.

They are just not the "same" compared to the rods I am fishing at home, and they are still too long to fit in a carry on bag. So the idea was lets take the blank used for the well known home-1 piece rod and make a travel version of it.

Lately I am travelling a lot for work, (flights around the world) but usually only whith carryon baggage for faster transfer. I have opted for taking fishing gear with me. Ideally fitting in the carryon bag, so my boss, colleagues and customers don`t have a reason to argue or asking stupid questions.
I`d start maybe with a light rod for the conquest 100, or 200 for having a bit fun from the beaches.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/03/2017 03:37PM by Bruno Kovacs.