Does anybody have a fishing kit that they keep in their car? Or perhaps a kit that you travel with, maybe you're going somewhere where there will be water and you might try and fish for whatever's biting.
I'm the new owner of a 2009 Camry that I've been working on (gift from my aunt), so now I gotta get to doing the fun work on this thing - cross bars for the kayak, big rod tube on the top, tackle storage organizer in the trunk, etc ;)
Interested to hear what people carry around, I haven't seen much online.
Tight lines
Drew
Ski racks are an easy solution for transporting rods.
I keep a 9 foot St. Croix travel surf rod in my cab at all times.
I'm going to be installing a Decked system for my truck in a couple of months. Will keep a bunch of tackle in there at all times.
When I fished fresh water I always had a rod and reel and gear in my truck. I haven't done this in over 15 years, my salt water addiction got the best of me.
I have a 3 piece travel rod (Nomad Express Inshore), and I think Ill be adding another to my collection. The Nomad rods are very well made, and have a good warranty. Plus, multi-piece rods are quite convenient on a kayak.
http://www.tackledirect.com/search.html?query=okuma+nomad
Put rocket launchers on the front bumper with a rod and reel for every occasion. :)
-steve
All of my more recent rods are travel rods - 3/4/5 piece. They will easily fit into a suitcase - A must, in this day and age, no airport in the UK/Europe will allow rods and even reels (with line) as cabin luggage - and forget about hooks, pliers, multi-tools etc. The additional cost of rod tubes (as hold luggage) is getting prohibitive. I have even been told by one airline "Golf bags are ok but rod tubes are too long - we don't allow them" They are a law unto themselves >:(
Additionally all my tackle can fit into the car with no modification.
My Forester came with those roof rack ready bars. Just got cheap metal pipe and plastic end-caps for a cross-bar set-up, secured with "U" bolts to the factory bars. Didn't wanna spend hundreds for a name brand one and miss the fun of hardware shopping and doin it my way. Rods go inna PVC sewer(black) pipe 'bout 5" dia., secured with big hose clamps, a glued cap on one end and a screw on/off cap at the other. Only real fancy parts are the Hobie nylon bar covers that the yak rides on. Haven't yet been able to come up with a lock for my rod holder(gotta $400 Loomis surf rod!). Tackle goes inna old, stained and beat-up backpack.
Gfish
A vintage Daiwa Mini-Mite travel set does the job for the small stuff and packs away in a case the size of a flute.
It's kept in the trunk and has room for some small tackle in the case as well as a spare spool.
Dom
Gfish I use the same type of tube I drilled the cap where you would put the wrench to tighten or loosen cross ways and inserted sash chain then on each side of the tube I installed two quarter inch eyebolts and use two small padlocks to lock to the eye bolts. Dave
Quote from: Gfish on August 09, 2017, 01:50:59 PM
My Forester came with those roof rack ready bars. Just got cheap metal pipe and plastic end-caps for a cross-bar set-up, secured with "U" bolts to the factory bars. Didn't wanna spend hundreds for a name brand one and miss the fun of hardware shopping and doin it my way. Rods go inna PVC sewer(black) pipe 'bout 5" dia., secured with big hose clamps, a glued cap on one end and a screw on/off cap at the other. Only real fancy parts are the Hobie nylon bar covers that the yak rides on. Haven't yet been able to come up with a lock for my rod holder(gotta $400 Loomis surf rod!). Tackle goes inna old, stained and beat-up backpack.
Gfish
Awesome idea, this is an idea I will need to try.
Not exactly sure how the screw-on cap is set up for you - but could you drill a hole diagonally, that goes through the screw-on cap and the main pipe? That way you could just line it up when you screw it on, and stick a padlock on there. Could do as many as you want, in theory.
Edit: looks like diamonddave had just about the same idea
I've been needing some 2, 3, or 4 piece rods for a while now. I've got a few 7' one piece rods for inshore fishing, they work fine but man it sucks loading them up. Although if I get a rod tube built for the car, one piece will be fine.
Have a Florida trip coming up in March of 2018, so I should probably have a travel rod or two by then.
Now it's time to do a shootout of rods and reels for this, gotta find something cheap, lightweight, and tough enough to stand up to fresh and saltwater.
I'll probably get a 7' 8-17 lb rod for the car, with a reel about the size of a Shimano 2500 (150-160 yards of 8 lb mono, give or take). I'll probably keep a spool of 8 lb copolymer and 20 lb braid. I have a feeling this will do fine to cover at least 80% of the fishing I'll do.
Then I gotta throw together a set of lures... Probably a box with half saltwater stuff and half inshore stuff.
You can find two piece to fit in your trunk all day at pawn shops. The Camry used to also have a lay down backseat to access trunk check for that; two piece twelve footer will fit in there.
Man that would be awesome. I can put the middle seat down and get access to the trunk, so I can get an 11 or 12 footer in there without problems (broken down of course).
A two piece would be fine for the car, the main concern I have is traveling on a plane, but I could always build a PVC case that could fit a few two-piece rods and be used as a carry-on (probably). I don't want to go over a 3-piece rod just because it gets annoying past that point.
I really need to slim down my level of fishing gear. I went through and cleaned the garage, I filled several gallons of containers with lures, most of which I have never used. I had four tray boxes of bass lures that had never been used. I'm gonna sell almost all of it (I have a good memory of what I've used, what I haven't, what has worked, what hasn't, etc), and use the money to fund... more tackle. Hopefully this time, just the essentials though.
My goal is to have at least 6 setups to fish - and no more than 12. Bare minimum would be two medium spinners, one (ultra)light spinner, the 980, the 9/0, and one surf casting setup (for bait and shark duty). Potentially, I would turn the one ultralight into two or three - with one or two setups designed to be beaters that can be used around the docks for smaller stuff. The surf setup could turn into four setups, which would be a spread of one bait rod and up to three casted shark rods (so I can have baits in different locations) - although it will likely end up being two rods, one for baitfish and one for casted shark duty. Then I've been tossing around the idea of building a 4/0 wide rig, as a 2018 project - but it's low on the priority list.
Another thing I want to do with my bass fishing, inshore fishing, panfishing, etc - is thin out the artificials and terminal tackle I need to have on hand. I am going to try and pick three techniques that work the best and that I really enjoy fishing, and only fish those. I don't know what they will be yet, but I have some ideas.
Decisions, decisions.
Drew
Quote from: diamonddave on August 09, 2017, 02:46:05 PM
Gfish I use the same type of tube I drilled the cap where you would put the wrench to tighten or loosen cross ways and inserted sash chain then on each side of the tube I installed two quarter inch eyebolts and use two small padlocks to lock to the eye bolts. Dave
Great idea and great name diamondave(you a gambler?).
Biggie, the screw-on cap actually screws into a special female part that glues onto the main pipe. Kinda like a screw-in plug.
Gfish
Quote from: Gfish on August 09, 2017, 09:52:56 PM
Great idea and great name diamondave(you a gambler?).
Biggie, the screw-on cap actually screws into a special female part that glues onto the main pipe. Kinda like a screw-in plug.
Gfish
Something kind of like this? (obviously without the tee):
https://flexpvc.com/pictures/ReducerBushing.png
Dave and Gfish, do you mind posting pictures of your tubes? I'm having a bit of a tough time envisioning how they're working. They sound like great ideas though!
Drew
Good luck with the down size Drew. In theory you pay for some stuff you want by selling stuff you don't want. My best advice is to you is once you get to your six rigs, STOP READING THIS FORUM!!! lol
I think I have five fly rods for some reason and don't fly fish, ever.....it just happens...
Quote from: thorhammer on August 10, 2017, 12:35:08 AM
Good luck with the down size Drew. In theory you pay for some stuff you want by selling stuff you don't want. My best advice is to you is once you get to your six rigs, STOP READING THIS FORUM!!! lol
I think I have five fly rods for some reason and don't fly fish, ever.....it just happens...
Lol, I'm not sold on a 4/0w yet but if I stick around I'm sure I will be, lol
I've got a 5 weight in the garage right now, I've tried fly fishing before, got really tired really quickly. I dunno if I can bring myself to sell that rod, I love the long whippy rod on a strong fish - but if I end up having an ultralight made from a 1-2 weight fly rod, it'll probably go. A 5 weight with a 1+ pound bluegill is loads of fun and I might even say a challenge to land the fish (using 2 lb mono), a 1 or 2 weight is going to be insane.
I kind of hate to see everything go, but I just don't use it - there's not much reason to keep it, the money can be much better spent, on stuff I will actually use.
Edit: don't worry about this post yet, still working on it :)
What Me Worry? ;D ;D ;D Alferd E. Newman (a little before your time) ;D
I had about 12-15 when I was your age. Fast forward a few hundred...and about a dozen tackle bags....and 50 shoe boxes of line, jig molds, parts, crap, more crap, thread, epoxy, headlamps cause I keep buying when I cant find the one in the shop.....wash, rinse, repeat...and more crap.
At one point I was being harassed by my buddy "just because a boat has your name on it doesn't mean you have to buy it..." I had four jonboats at the time lol
I have a fly rod, and an okuma travel rod in 1 short tube, and a wading tackle bag with a spinning reel, fly reel, and appropriate tackle I generally keep in my 2 door truck. Great for traveling too.
John
Quote from: thorhammer on August 10, 2017, 02:50:06 AM
I had about 12-15 when I was your age. Fast forward a few hundred...and about a dozen tackle bags....and 50 shoe boxes of line, jig molds, parts, crap, more crap, thread, epoxy, headlamps cause I keep buying when I cant find the one in the shop.....wash, rinse, repeat...and more crap.
At one point I was being harassed by my buddy "just because a boat has your name on it doesn't mean you have to buy it..." I had four jonboats at the time lol
Lol, your buddy sounds like a funny guy :D
I hope to never have tons and tons of stuff just laying around - but I'm sure the day will come sooner or later. It's bad now, hopefully I can fix it and fix it for good.
I think I decided on some basic rigs to work with. I'll probably have three rigs for nearshore/offshore fishing. One for bottom stuff (grouper, snapper, and AJs/almacos/pompano), one for nearshore stuff (mostly cobia, but could be modified for tarpon, drum, and others), and one for toothy stuff (sharks, barracudas, big bluefish, kingfish all come to mind).
I can do all of those with 8/0 circles, #9-#10 single strand, 80 lb fluoro or mono, 4 and 8 ounce egg sinkers, balloons, 310 lb crane swivels, and MAYBE some #4 treble hooks. Keepin it simple here.
I have a small van that has permanent fishing stuff in it. Depending what time of the year I change the type of fish I catch and accordingly the type of tackle.
I am a bit embarrassed to post a picture because it is usually a big mess. :-[ :-[ :-[
Some of the stuff that I permanently have in the van is:-
Spare rod and reel & tackle for distance casting.
Fish box.
Spare fishing clothes and rain gear.
5 lit drinking water.
Spare line and a huge assortment of lures, hooks and sinkers in Winter.
Rucksack with ready gear and two rods that I actually use.
Rope gaff (redundant these days)
A long stick used for wading in winter as a "third leg" and for moving snakes out the road in summer
A device for collecting bait in Winter(can't mention what.... :-[)
Binoculars
The sad thing is that I have twice been ripped off over 25 years, once I saw them blatantly breaking in to my van from 300 mt down the mountain and could do nothing as they had seen me as I saw them.
I am the only one that uses this vehicle and because I fish so much and often at a whim (when the wind eases a bit) am always ready to go.
The contents annoys my wife but I feel blessed that I have this small cheap to run vehicle, always at the ready!
Quote from: oc1 on August 09, 2017, 07:49:48 AM
Put rocket launchers on the front bumper with a rod and reel for every occasion. :)
-steve
Replace the Driver's Seat with a Fighting Chair . . . LOL !
I always keep a small tackle box stashed in vehicle. Its come in handy on a few fishing trips when supplies run low or someone forgets something, its always there. I like to keep an ultra lite spinning outfit stashed too.
Drew,
I've been thinking of this setup since you posted this.
It is a two piece Davis rod. It has some really nice rollers on it and breaks down to about 4'.
This rod is several years old. Aftco filed a lawsuit for infringement for these rollers, so they don't make them like this anymore.
I caught my first shark on this rod. A 6 ' spinner.
130 to 160lb rated rod with a 12/0.
You could tuck this under the seat for a great car kit. ;)
Quote from: biggiesmalls on August 09, 2017, 10:09:24 PM
Quote from: Gfish on August 09, 2017, 09:52:56 PM
Great idea and great name diamondave(you a gambler?).
Biggie, the screw-on cap actually screws into a special female part that glues onto the main pipe. Kinda like a screw-in plug.
Gfish
Something kind of like this? (obviously without the tee):
https://flexpvc.com/pictures/ReducerBushing.png
Dave and Gfish, do you mind posting pictures of your tubes? I'm having a bit of a tough time envisioning how they're working. They sound like great ideas though!
Drew
Here's a couple a pics a my cartop rod carrier. It's about 5' 10", kinda heavy. I put foam rubber in the bottom cap before I glued it on and there's some in the screw-on cap for cushioning.
Gfish
In my car at all times is a Daiwa telescopic rod paired to a Penn 146 and a multi-piece rod from Okuma matched with a Daiwa Legalis spinner for freshwater/lighter applications. Rounding it all out is a tackle bag with enough gear for most trips here.
Conveniently, there's a compartment inside my vehicle where the spare tire resides under the trunk. I put the bag in center of the spare tire and the rods in their tubes next to the wheel. Keeps everything out of sight from prowlers!
Quote from: AlcoholicFisherman on August 11, 2017, 10:32:26 AM
In my car at all times is a Daiwa telescopic rod paired to a Penn 146 and a multi-piece rod from Okuma matched with a Daiwa Legalis spinner for freshwater/lighter applications. Rounding it all out is a tackle bag with enough gear for most trips here.
Conveniently, there's a compartment inside my vehicle where the spare tire resides under the trunk. I put the bag in center of the spare tire and the rods in their tubes next to the wheel. Keeps everything out of sight from prowlers!
......or my Boss when I was still working! ;D ;D
you get those Thule cross bars and you can fit snow board racks and kayak holders to them. The snowboard holders work very well for rods. They are obscenely expensive though where I live. We get locally made stainless steel lockable fishing rod holders that work really well. You may see what happens that with more experience you will actually go fishing with less tackle and put fewer rods out at a time as you understand conditions more you can focus better and follow less of a "calling all pockets approach". It is, however, difficult if you live far from the coast and you want to try and cover all eventualities in the limited time you have on vacation.
Quote from: Shark Hunter on August 11, 2017, 05:43:58 AM
Drew,
I've been thinking of this setup since you posted this.
It is a two piece Davis rod. It has some really nice rollers on it and breaks down to about 4'.
This rod is several years old. Aftco filed a lawsuit for infringement for these rollers, so they don't make them like this anymore.
I caught my first shark on this rod. A 6 ' spinner.
130 to 160lb rated rod with a 12/0.
You could tuck this under the seat for a great car kit. ;)
There you go . . . Perfect setup for a little " Pocket Sharkin' " . . . Just snag a " Road Kill " for bait and you're good to go !
Sorry, I couldn't resist . . . LOL !
Tight Lines !
More pics. I'mna go tomorrow, here's the yak n' rack. The rod-holder rides on the side on top a the pipes, when I got it attached.
I buy all my roof rack pieces on CL or Ebay used for cheap. I set mine up with the cradle and rollers because I have a truck. Pic of my setup at lake Champlain.
Quote from: Cor on August 10, 2017, 05:36:03 AM
I have a small van that has permanent fishing stuff in it. Depending what time of the year I change the type of fish I catch and accordingly the type of tackle.
I am a bit embarrassed to post a picture because it is usually a big mess. :-[ :-[ :-[
Some of the stuff that I permanently have in the van is:-
Spare rod and reel & tackle for distance casting.
fish box.
Spare fishing clothes and rain gear.
5 lit drinking water.
Spare line and a huge assortment of lures, hooks and sinkers in Winter.
Rucksack and two rods that I actually use.
I am the only one that uses this vehicle and because I fish so much and often at a whim (when the wind eases a bit) am always ready to go.
The contents annoys my wife but I feel blessed that I have this small cheap to run vehicle always at the ready!
This is something I would love to do, I don't know if I can fit all of this in a Camry but I'll definitely be trying. I do love the idea of always being ready to go - so if I see a new body of water or a new spot, I can just pull over and try it out instead of (maybe) remembering where it is.
Quote from: ez2cdave on August 11, 2017, 01:26:48 AM
Replace the Driver's Seat with a Fighting Chair . . . LOL !
Hey, don't give me any crazy ideas! If I had a truck you bet there'd be a mount for a fighting chair on the back.
Quote from: wailua boy on August 11, 2017, 03:45:53 AM
I always keep a small tackle box stashed in vehicle. Its come in handy on a few fishing trips when supplies run low or someone forgets something, its always there. I like to keep an ultra lite spinning outfit stashed too.
This is probably what I'll do. I will probably have a medium rod in there, though.
What all do you keep in your tackle box?
Quote from: Shark Hunter on August 11, 2017, 05:43:58 AM
Drew,
I've been thinking of this setup since you posted this.
It is a two piece Davis rod. It has some really nice rollers on it and breaks down to about 4'.
This rod is several years old. Aftco filed a lawsuit for infringement for these rollers, so they don't make them like this anymore.
I caught my first shark on this rod. A 6 ' spinner.
130 to 160lb rated rod with a 12/0.
You could tuck this under the seat for a great car kit. ;)
That would be an AWESOME setup to keep in the car. Only problem is I've got to carry around the kayak, PFD, paddles, bolt cutters, tape measure, tail rope, claw weights, 30' traces, and 2+ lb stingrays with it ;)
Quote from: Gfish on August 11, 2017, 06:50:29 AM
Here's a couple a pics a my cartop rod carrier. It's about 5' 10", kinda heavy. I put foam rubber in the bottom cap before I glued it on and there's some in the screw-on cap for cushioning.
Gfish
Awesome, thank you very much for the pics. I might try and build one of these in the coming months, it'll go on the van for now and then on the Camry whenever I get it registered and everything.
How do you prefer to attach it to the car? I saw the mounting setup in your other post, do you just use like ratchet straps on it?
Drew
Quote from: CapeFish on August 11, 2017, 01:32:46 PM
you get those Thule cross bars and you can fit snow board racks and kayak holders to them. The snowboard holders work very well for rods. They are obscenely expensive though where I live. We get locally made stainless steel lockable fishing rod holders that work really well. You may see what happens that with more experience you will actually go fishing with less tackle and put fewer rods out at a time as you understand conditions more you can focus better and follow less of a "calling all pockets approach". It is, however, difficult if you live far from the coast and you want to try and cover all eventualities in the limited time you have on vacation.
I need to get a set of the cross bars for this car. We've got them on the van right now, all we do to get the kayaks up there is lay down two foam blocks, and stack them upside down on top. We use two ratchet straps to hold the kayaks together, and then four to hold them to the cross bars. They go through the handles of both kayaks, and loop back around the cross bars. Solid system that has carried two kayaks 300+ miles at a time before.
We used to have Thule racks, but we took about 45+ minutes to get each one up there. I'm 5'4" and the person helping me get them up there was 5'6", so that may have had something to do with it. But the ratchet straps and foam costs like $25, which is probably the cost of one of the Thule mounts at least - and we need four of those.
I live right near the coast, I can be on the Intracoastal Waterway after about a mile and the beach after about 2. I can shark fish with a 15 minute boat ride or a 30-40 minute car ride, which I make all the time to see my girlfriend anyways.
I have slimmed down my bass fishing for starters - I used to want to have a Noah's Ark of tackle, had to have at least a few of everything just in case. But I went through, and I only fish a few of those things with any form of regularity. Now I'll be fishing one rod instead of 3, and I'm throwing six different lures (I think). I used to have over 50 different lures most of which didn't get thrown.
Panfish is another story though - I love getting out and trying all the new stuff, figuring out what works best. I can never thin out that herd, lol.
Rod tube's attached to pipes with giant hose clamps, 'cause I wanna make it hard to steal the whole thing. Cor's set-up sounds ideal. A vehicle that sounds like it's mostly dedicated to fishing.
Gfish
My wife found this used Daiwa Exec Spin/Fly Combo a few years ago online for $20 shipped. It's a six piece 6-1/2' rod with a size 30 spinning reel and also an econo fly reel. The handle is reversible. Only used it twice, to be a six piece the combo is fairly balanced, at least the spinning function. Haven't even spooled the fly reel.