No need to fold the line so tight to damage it. Leave it less tight and enjoy. Sounds like a good plan. Short of full length tubes you will have minimized the set up break down time.

 

I never break down my rods in the summer time. They fit in my truck in one piece In the bed through the window in the canopy into the truck through the slider window. Of course things are safer here in Montana than in Washington state.

 

OM: Am I reading this correctly and you leave your fly lines in your truck throughout the summer? If so, are you not concerned about the summer heat harming the fly lines?

 

I'm like the rod/reel combo tubes that came with my sage and orvis rods but I begrudge any time I need to spend rigging up rods so I tend to leave them rigged unless I'm taking my mountain bike or motorcycle.

 

Don't know bout that old man. I do the same thing in good ol Washington. Actually broke down my rod last night for the first time in weeks because of a wicked storm. I have a magnetic set up and leave it on my truck. True it's not my best pole.

 

I have a couple 10' PVC conduit pipes that I cut a slot in (for reels) and the rods/reels I use the most frequently stay totally rigged up in them. I made the first one originally for my cataraft but now I use them more for my vehicle. I can fit 3 fully rigged rods in each one, though normally there is just one or two. I usually leave it in my rig but when I have to, I carry the whole thing in the house and stick it in the kitchen or mud room. (I'm single!) In my mud room, I have a couple of brackets on the wall that will hold 5-6 rigged rods or the conduit. I also have large brackets on my back porch that I often put the pvc pipes and/or fully rigged rods. It's great to arrive at a river or lake and have the rods ready to go but safely stored. I also have a small cloth bag that I put over the reels so anyone looking in my rig probably thinks it's just a piece of pipe. Somewhere I have a pic I can post if you want.

 

I use one of my old two piece rod & reel cases for my 4 piece rods and even a 7 piece rod. I loosen the drag, wind the fly somewhat loosly into the tip, break the rod down as close to half length as possible, then snug up the line with the tip even with the rod butt, tighten the drag, then put both pieces into the case together. The 7 piece doesn't break down into two equal lengths. The lower half is longer but it still works for temporary transport in the car even though the handle and reel do not fit completely into the case to be fully enclosed when the case is zipped closed. All my flies are barbless so they wouldn't be difficult to remove from the case lining when the tip is up in the handle/reel section of the case, but they never seem to get caught. I loosen the drag again before reassembling the rod. It's a simple, secure, but inexpensive way to safely transport my rods between locations in the car using legacy gear I already own and reassembling the rods only takes 10 to 15 seconds. Occasionally I use the cases that way on the Water Master, but the rod case linings can get wet then must be thoroughly dried out afterwards.

 

I never thought of set up and break down time as a problem. What's it take - 3 minutes or less? I try not to be in such a hurry going fishing.

Of course if I'm fishing several days in a row I'm likely to just leave it rigged up in my vehicle overnight.

 

I never thought of set up and break down time as a problem. What's it take - 3 minutes or less? I try not to be in such a hurry going fishing.

Of course if I'm fishing several days in a row I'm likely to just leave it rigged up in my vehicle overnight.

I can't count how many times I've gotten to the river and spotted a hog feeding in close. By the time I'm rigged up it's long gone. Having a rod ready to go has helped immensely. I love it when I'm already hooked up while my fishing partner is scrambling to get setup.

 

I have all my rods in two rod containers with the reels attached. I mostly use the long ones and just keep the two sections of the 4 piece rods together. I usually unstring them so all the line is on the reel. I also have them labeled with the rod that is in each side. Seems like an easy quick way to store and quickly access the rod and reel together. At my cabin, I have a bunch of nails on a garage wall and leave all the rods fully lined and set up. Then I can just throw them in my long box truck under the canopy and they are ready when I get to the lake or river.

 

I started thinking about ways to reduce setup time and thought, even though I mostly have 4 piece rods, if I got a two piece rod and reel combo case, I could essentially keep the rod and reel together and even keep the rod strung up with a line.

The only downside I see to going this route is the fly line might get damaged or permanently kinked when stored like this (at the 90 degree bend) in long-term situations and the initial costs of buying a bunch of rod/reel combo cases, which is easily justifiable if it allows me more time on the water and/or less time fiddling with gear.

Any thoughts on either of these ways or perhaps an entirely different way?

This is how I store my go-to setups. I have a double case for 9' 2-piece rods with reels and a single case for a 10' 2-piece rod with reel. This keeps me ready for most of my fishing. I typically pull everything out the night before to check the line, leader/tippet, and choose a fly. When I arrive all I need to do is assemble the rod, change the fly if necessary, and start casting.

 

I use the reel on rod cases so I always have things set-up and ready to fish. I can also put fully assembled rods in my Explorer so I'm ready to fish when I hit the water. I generally have 3-4 fully rigged outfits ready to go at my house should a spur of the moment fishing opportunity arise.
I've fished with one particular person a few times that is incredibly slow at setting up their equipment. It takes him a good half hour just to set-up his rod and reel. If you add waders and watercraft, a minimum of one hour. It drives me crazy so I just go fish while he fiddles around with his gear.

 

BDD, here is the simple rod holder I made. It works to protect fully rigged rods from the house to the vehicle to the cataraft.

For me, it is not just about getting on the water fast, it's also about getting everything stowed quickly and safely at the end of the day. I am rarely off the water until dark and just sliding the rods in the tube fully rigged makes the tear-down process much faster and I am not fumbling around in the dark breaking down rods. Last night, I fished a lake and had 3 rods rigged. I got back to my rig, opened the tailgate and slide all three rods in the tube at once and was done.

 

I also use two peice rod/reel cases for my rods so I can rig up before leaving home or the night before. I don't tend to store them that way though as I fish the salt mostly and everything has to be broken down, rinsed and dried.

 

Sue, I do a similar thing with the PVC, but designed for the rod to be split into 2 pieces. I have a 6ft bed in my truck and have rigged the tube with some pipe hangers and brackets so that it hangs from the bed rails. When I am moving from spot to spot I just break the rod in half, slide it into the PVC tube, and I'm on my way. At the next spot everything is already rigged up and ready to go.

 

I have a roof rack on my vehicle and that PVC pipe would be perfect. I don't think I would put my bamboo in there but my glass rod and 3wt, most definately

 

For getting to and from on day trips, I tend to use a Rod Loft Pro in my pilot. ( footers are a challenge so I hang the rods at a diagonal. You just have to be careful closing the passenger door. I can carry up to 6 rods rigged and ready. I do not leave them in overnight--way too tempting.

 

Trying to help all you guys out. I was in Cabelas recently and they have greatly reduced the price on their double rod cases for both 2 and 4 piece rods. Check out the pic. Carefully.

 

I just bring the wife and the kid for set up while I hunt around for flies, bugs, go into the fly shop, set up the boat, etc... etc...

 

Thanks for the pics FS, I would have never thought about making a 1-piece tube. I have to go measure the diagonal distance of my truck bed now.

I used my new 5' double case for the first time on a recent trip and it actually worked pretty good...so much I'll probably get more.

 

I've also used the rod tube with reel in the 2 pc size for my 4 pc rods. A couple words of caution with this is that it may be difficult to breakdown the rod into 4 pc so best to put them away a bit loose and check the ferrules before fishing. Also if the rod has a wood reel seat and is wet with a reel on it may cause some change to the wood under the seat. Just FYI.