Pros and cons of 3 piece travel rods from brands such as Fenwick, etc

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ 

 

I have use a few different brands of travel casting rods the past few years bass fishing in Mexico.

 

Like the G.Loomis Escape quite a bit and more recently, the Fenwick 'Methods' rods.

 

IMO there are no cons - the convenience of taking them as carry-on Is The Best.

 

Way too many horror stories where the full tube arrives (or not) with rods damaged.

 

A-Jay 

 

 

Can't comment on travel rods.  Just wanted to say  to the forum.

5 hours ago, A-Jay said:

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ 

 

I have use a few different brands of travel casting rods the past few years bass fishing in Mexico.

 

Like the G.Loomis Escape quite a bit and more recently, the Fenwick 'Methods' rods.

 

IMO there are no cons - the convenience of taking them as carry-on Is The Best.

 

Way too many horror stories where the full tube arrives (or not) with rods damaged.

 

A-Jay 

 

 

thank you very much for your input 

Pros: You can travel with them.

Cons: Everything else.

Cons: Travel rods have improved but you still lose sensitivity, the ferrules can be damaged or get stuck together(not a big deal). 

 

Pros: You can take them almost anywhere, prices aren’t bad

 

I don’t mind 2 piece rods but I probably wouldn’t use a 3 piece unless I had to. Ditto to reason

 

3 piece rod is better than not fishing at all. 

 

2 piece rod better than 3 piece, good for truck of car travelling with family, etc. 

 

1 piece rod is ideal, but not always an option. 

 

 

Cons: as long as you keep on purchasing crap multipiece rods everything is a con.

I went a different direction when I bought my last travel combo;

 

It's a Dawia B.B.B telescopic casting rod.  I wanted a casting rod that would pack down as small as possible and cover a pretty wide range of lures.  I have used lures from about 3/16 to 1/2 on it, which is what I was looking for.  It has Regular Fast action and once assembled, it's easy to forget it's a multi part rod.  I very careful about lifting fish with it, but it survived three days of Miami Canal fishing in which I snagged and had to lift some chunky tilapia four or five times and it held up like a champ.  It is a dream to hike with and takes up no space in my suitcase when I travel for work.   

I have a BPS Ocean Master travel spinning rod (3 piece).  I've been using it for both fresh and salt water now for 6 years with no issues whatsoever.  I've caught a couple of largemouth on it, but also up to 10 pound jacks and snappers and a couple of 3-4 foot barracuda.  It's currently the only spinning rod I own.  Seems to get the job done.

Pros: easy to transport.

 

Cons: A one piece is better in every other way.

 

 

10 hours ago, fishwizzard said:

I went a different direction when I bought my last travel combo;

 

It's a Dawia B.B.B telescopic casting rod.  I wanted a casting rod that would pack down as small as possible and cover a pretty wide range of lures.  I have used lures from about 3/16 to 1/2 on it, which is what I was looking for.  It has Regular Fast action and once assembled, it's easy to forget it's a multi part rod.  I very careful about lifting fish with it, but it survived three days of Miami Canal fishing in which I snagged and had to lift some chunky tilapia four or five times and it held up like a champ.  It is a dream to hike with and takes up no space in my suitcase when I travel for work.   

That looks nice. Where did you buy that and how much?

I got it from Amazon as they had the best price at the moment, it's still on there for $155, which is around what I paid.  It's so nice to be able to stick my rod and reel inside my pack when I am done for the day and hike back to the car without worrying about snagging a longer tube.  They have a few different models, I want to pick up a finesse spinning rod from the same line at some point.  

I can't tell a lot of difference between them as far as casting and hanling.   My fly rods are mostly 4 piece.  I have a 3 pc Fenwick spinning rod that I like and a TS BPS BC that I like okay.

Multi piece rods get a bad rap because many are made from low end blanks to begin with. A quality travel rod will fish as well as anything comparable components wise. We routinely land 8#> steelheads on 3 and 4 piece ML rods. 

I’ve owned a few multi-piece rods and the only con I can really come up with is a result of my own forgetfulness. In the past, I’ve forgotten which rods were more than 1 piece and grabbed them by the tip to lift them up. Ended up bouncing one of my Battle 2s off the pavement multiple times before I learned my lesson. Now I mark them with some red nail polish on the tip. 

I have three St. Croix Triumph 4 piece rods. 2 spinning set ups and one medium heavy casting rod. Extremely convenient for traveling and I have great sensitivity and strength with each rod. From throwing weightless flukes to jerkbaits to buzzbaits I've caught countless bass and northerns on them and some smaller muskies and never doubted strength of the rods. I know travel rods get bad raps but mine are a part of arsenal every trip. 

I have 2 G. Loomis Escape travel rods and love them.

 

yes, a 1 piece G. loomis rod would fish better. but these rods are pretty d**n good. worth the investment IMO.

 

 

Pros: they are travel rods, cons: they are travel rods. I love the convenience of being able to carry them on planes and fitting them into luggage, but I only use them for this purpose. If I'm not traveling I use my one piece rods.

On 1/6/2018 at 11:23 AM, thinkingredneck said:

I can't tell a lot of difference between them as far as casting and hanling.   My fly rods are mostly 4 piece.  I have a 3 pc Fenwick spinning rod that I like and a TS BPS BC that I like okay.

Ditto on my fly rods.  Most are 4 piece, a couple are 3 piece, two are two piece.

 

The they all work fine.

 

I have several gear rods that are two piece, Mostly as a recognition that it's nearly impossible to protect rods much over 7 or 8 feet during transportation.

 

They all work fine too.

 

Here's a hidden benefit to multi-piece rods from the folks at St. Croix: it is much easier and more effective to engineer specific properties into parts of a rod when that rod is multi-piece.

 

...imagine a rod with two different tip actions...

 

This already exists in fly rods...Has for years.

58 minutes ago, Further North said:

Ditto on my fly rods.  Most are 4 piece, a couple are 3 piece, two are two piece.

 

The they all work fine.

 

I have several gear rods that are two piece, Mostly as a recognition that it's nearly impossible to protect rods much over 7 or 8 feet during transportation.

 

They all work fine too.

 

Here's a hidden benefit to multi-piece rods from the folks at St. Croix: it is much easier and more effective to engineer specific properties into parts of a rod when that rod is multi-piece.

 

...imagine a rod with two different tip actions...

 

This already exists in fly rods...Has for years.

Fenwick introduced the "Methods Series" of spinning & casting travel rods a few years back.  

Product performs well above it's price point.

Invaluable south of the border. 

With two of these there is quite a bit of versatility & effectiveness. 

A-Jay

 

@A-Jay Really cool, thanks.

 

...more than a little evidence that we tend to get wrapped 'round the axle of the past and not be open minded about new things that show up on our doorstep, bearing gifts...

Have some travel rods from different manufacturers, G Loomis 3 pc. GLX spinning rod, awesome and been that way all over the world for 15 years. Steelhead, salmon, bonefish, inshore. 3 pc. St. Croix Premier ML spinning, multiple canoe portaging trips, awesome. Peacock Bass rod, 3 piece Rainshadow RX7 Hvy action blank, way past awesome, have caught peacock bass, catfish, pike, musky, salmon, LMB, Lake Trout and inshore species on it.

If you fly into the bush, portage, anywhere where there are size restrictions, yu want to have a god travel rod. Durability issues, bull pucky, never happened, never will, keep the ferrules tight and fish them like any other rod.

The breaking issue is usaully operator error .high sticking them and not putting them together the  right way..and they are easier  to hide from thieves when your doin a road trip 

i have 2 Daiwa Arditos.

theyre awesome rods but theres no denying that they are heavier than my other one piece sticks.