Traveling with tackle

[DropinBack]

Rod in a rod case wraped in towels... reels on carry on wrapped in towels...

[Capt. Michael Mata]

Thanks for the tips guys. Never thought they wouldn't let you have a spooled reel in your carry on. I guess you can do a lot of damage to people with 100# braid if you wanted to!

[Roddy Hays]

For most of my travelling around European waters over the past 15 years or so I have packed my my heavy and hard gear in one of several different-sized Igloo ice-chests. Soft clothing, washbag and shoes go in a rucksack on my back. Reputable carriers never had issues with the ice-chests, and it then gave me a cooler on board boats that might not have had one, which in some locations with smaller "all-weather" boats gave me a great advantage for tackle storage.

I seriously think that ice-chests look like many local-travellers belongings on the move and they have always remained unscathed on their travels. I don't think the Luis Vitton would have have suffered quite so well

I used to use 600lb mono and crimps to keep them closed (security never opened one), some duct-tape to keep the latches shut, a set of cheapo collapsible wheels to pull them along with, and a spare latch and hinge taped to the inside of the lids. They swallowed reels wrapped in towels, electrical items, tackle boxes, lure rolls, you name it ! On many occasions they have provided me with a seat to use during long lay-overs in hot airports, outside in the breeze ! One 12-hour delay in Antigua in 2004 passed relatively quickly once my wireman and I set up the Igloo next to the drinks-stand outside by the taxi-rank !

On occasion I have sent these Igloos ahead with DHL or FedEx if the boss allowed it.

Rods I have always taken in home-made tubes with screw-on ends, made out of thick-walled PVC. I still have tubes I made 30 years ago, that have taken 100's of plane-rides, whereas plenty of people I know have their "space-age" rod tubes broken. This is one area where home-made stuff can be better than a specialty product. One of my rod-tubes once brought an air-port conveyor-belt to a grinding halt in Senegal !

These too, I have shipped ahead many times. The great advantage of doing this is that once you know your stuff has safely arrived, you can pack less and less !