Travel Rod Tidbits – Early 2022
The pandemic has made air travel even more painful and to be honest I don’t see it getting any better if and when we conquer it. Prices won’t go down and benefits won’t increase – the only thing that we can hope for is that timeliness will decrease and cancellations will be minimized. That’s why I’m going all-in on travel rods. It’s not because I think they’re necessarily better than one-piece rods, but rather that at some point I’m going to need a multi-piece stick (or several of them) to fulfill my fishing goals.
We continue to monitor the new rods (many of them from outside the U.S.) as well as others that we may have missed. I won’t put out specific recommendations unless and until I have real-life experience with them, but my knowledge is growing every day as I put them through their paces. In the meantime, here are six notes and finds that may help you in the near term:
Legit Design Standout Rods
I’ve been testing a pair of 5-piece Legit Design Rods for months now and have been impressed with their construction and performance. Now Tackle Warehouse has added more of these fine JDM products, 2-piece models from their Stand Out Series — both casting rods and spinning rods, available for an eminently reasonable price. They do not have a mid-rod ferrule, but rather a detachable handle, as is the custom on many Japanese products. They come with a protective cover.
Bass Pro Shops Predator Musky Spinning Rod
If you or someone on one of your upcoming trips to fish for peacock bass, golden dorado or some other strong, exotic species favors spinning gear, the BPS musky stick may be the right one – it’s 7’9” and rated for ¾ to 3 ounce lures. Not a true travel rod since it’s two pieces, but if one-piecers are not an alternative you might be able to make this one work, and it’s comparatively bargain priced.
Cast Canatics
This is another brand from the multi-piece rod hotbed of Singapore that I discovered on social media. Their five (or six, depending on how you configure it) piece rod is either 6’3” or 7’ and is rated for heavy lures that’ll cover a wide range of freshwater and saltwater situations. I can’t find a web page for the company, but their video coverage for some fierce exotics is pretty compelling.
Jabbers
Since I previously wrote about Jabbers (with effusive praise for the name “Beast Flogger”) they’ve come out with some more travel-oriented rods, including the Slack Driver, the Snake Charmer and the Pleasure Seeker. Cudakilla may be your best bet for getting these in the United States. They already have the Snake Charmer in stock.
Tackle Now
This Pennsylvania shop specializing in popping and jigging somehow escaped my earlier searches for tackle tailored to those techniques. I found it recently through the 360Tuna message board and was pleased to discover that they have a multiple brands of high-end travel rods tailored to specific circumstances – from brands including Feed, Palmarius, Ripple Fisher, Grappler, and Galahad.
Bass Brigade Japan
This company may specialize in street-style bass wear, but I’m intrigued by this five-piece rod with matching carrying case. Not cheap by any means, but it’ll cover a lot of freshwater applications, particularly for bass.
Piscifun
At the other end of the cost spectrum is Piscifun, which offers both two-piece and four-piece rods in the $50-60 range. I can’t yet vouch for their quality, but if you need something to throw in the back of your vehicle or for a one-time use on a business trip, this might be a great bargain option.
