Travel fishing rods are made for the angler on the move, so for those of you that live within walking distance of your chosen fishing venue, and can keep your rod fully assembled at all times, you need read no further.
But for the rest of us, some form of transport '" car, bike, boat or plane - will be needed twixt home and sea, when even a two or three piece rod can be more than a little inconvenient.
Travel rods solve this problem. They can be broken down into conveniently short sections, so that they'll fit easily into the boot (that's the trunk, if you're an American) of a small car or a boat locker, or can be carried aboard as cabin baggage on an aircraft. And this is achieved by manufacturing the rod either:~
- As a number of short, separate sections, or
- In a telescopic format, such that each section can slide into the one below it.
Once assembled, travel rods are generally not quite as robust, and may be less refined than normally sectioned rods. But if the choice is going fishing with a travel rod or not going fishing at all, then it's not too difficult a decision for most of us to make.
After all, just how many times have you said "I wish I had my rod with me" when an unexpected fishing opportunity presents itself?
Plenty, I'll bet, but with a travel rod to hand you'll never have to say it again.
Multi-section travel fishing rods are much like ordinary two or three piece rods with push-in joints, except that the sections are much shorter and there are more of them.
For instance a 12ft beachcaster will probably have six equally sized sections, and a 7ft boat rod four sections, which means that they'll fit nicely into your car (that's the trunk, if you're an American), and can be carried as airline cabin baggage when you're jetting off on holiday.
Telescopic rods are even more convenient, as once collapsed they're entirely self-contained. They're small enough to pop into a shoulder back along with a few other items of tackle, 'just in case' the opportunity to wet a line presents itself.
To enable the sections to slide one inside another, a single line guide is fixed at the narrower end of each section. In most cases this means that they're designed for use with fixed spool reels rather than multipliers, which would require more line guides.
One of the things I particularly like about telescopic rods is the fact that they can be left rigged with the reel in place, and the line threaded through the guides while in 'short' mode. Not just because of a shameful tendency to indolence, but very useful when you're scrabbling around on slippery, seaweed covered rocks between venues, when a long cumbersome rod can only add to your problems.
But things don't always go entirely to plan --
We were motoring ashore in the inflatable dinghy, leaving our sailboat 'Alacazam' anchored in the bay, just outside Jolly Harbour in Antigua. Mary needed to get some beads for her jewellery making hobby '" I was just the dinghy driver. But I'd got my telescopic fishing rod aboard, with designs on pulling out a few mullet from the marina while Mary was poking around in the shop. She could be hours in there. Hopes of this were dashed when we arrived at a distinctly closed craft shop. 'National Holiday' the notice said.
Soon though, we were hurtling alarmingly towards St Johns (Antigua's capital) '" Bob Marley giving it loud, very loud - in a local bus, where Mary thought we'd find a craft shop open for business. I wasn't too depressed about the way things were turning out. I'd got my telescopic rod and knew that the bus terminal was right on the waterfront at St Johns.
Ears ringing with the memory of 'the man' and his Wailers we duly arrived '" Mary wandering off in search of the craft shop and I, telescopic fishing rod in hand, towards the waterfront fish market.
I baited up with a sliver of tuna charmed from a lady on a fish market stall, cow-hitched on a self-cocking float to assist in casting, and looked for a suitable spot between the moored fishing boats. I didn't know what to expect '" but what did happen next was wildly beyond my anticipation.
Immediately my line landed in the water, a dozen or more large dark shapes rushed out from the shadows beneath the adjacent boat. The bait vanished in one swirl and the float in another. There was a short, violent snatch on the rod and then -- nothing.
Calm soon returned, the tarpon (for that's what they were, every bit of 30lb apiece), and obviously well used to being 'fed' in this way, slid back to their sanctuary beneath the boat and the surface of the water gradually re-established itself.
A voice from the fishing boat '" "Hey Mon, dem's our pets. Lea'dem alone!"
Chastened, I did as instructed, and set off in search of Mary.
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