Ready-rod holdalls - anyone use them / have any advice?

[philocalist]

After a fairly recent house-move, I'm very fortunate in having both a lakeside and riverbank within a five minute walk from the house, and both are accessible fishing-wise. Although it's relatively easy for me to set aside a full day to fish if I want to, access like this begs for more, shorter sessions too and consequently I'm thinking about buying a holdall designed to transport rod already made up, as this would save me quite an amount of time tackling up when I could instead have a bait in the water; although the river might need a bit more variety in approach, much of the lake fishing is likely to be using the same tackle over and over again anyway, as it is largely of a uniform depth.

I'm just wondering what experience members might have of this approach, as it brings with it a few questions.

A lot of the time I'm using a 12', 2-piece rod that would easily go into a holdall / sleeve of the appropriate length - any real problems or drawbacks if this was a 3-piece rod, as many of mine are? I'm also curious to what degree others break down the end-tackle? Do you leave it complete, and simply carry on fishing next time assuming the hook is OK, or what? - I've got a caution niggling away at the back of my mind wondering about the integrity of knots that might have been tied days previously, etc

[Anderoo]

I do this a lot! 2 piece rods are easy and I fold them down, put a protector over the butt/tip ends to protect the tip, and tie them into a holdall with reels attached. The holdall also has banksticks, landing net handle, etc.

 

I often leave end tackle like feeders, tubing, etc. attached but always add a fresh hooklength before fishing. I usually retie any other knots before fishing too. Old knots in mono line weaken considerably after use and storage. Braid and flouro less so.

[Anderoo]

Oh, 3 piece rods are less easy but do-able, just fold them into 3. The rod protectors I use are Nash top tips (or tip tops, whichever!).

[Rusty]

I use a Korum two rod quiver (not a holdall) all of the time and I love it. I think the smallest they do now is for three rods which is a shame because I can fit three in mine with some ingenuity. JV44 has the five rod version which is ok if you’re not planning to lug it around but its size works against its practicality in my opinion.

 

My three piece 15’ trotting rods fit fine as do my two piece 12’ quivertip rods, the former are always set up (including hooklength) and whichever one I want to use just gets slotted into the quiver, tip protectors are a good idea. It’ll take rod rests and a landing net pole, possibly a small brolly in the middle section too.

 

The hooklength usually gets changed once the rod is set up anyway but if it feels ok with no damage I’ll re-use it. I take the weights off of my quivertip rods to save them from bouncing around and if the quiver has two trotting rods I’ll put an old sock over each centrepin, they will knock together when you’re carrying it about.

 

I find it so versatile, couldn’t do without it now.

[Tigger]

I still haven't found a made up rod sleeve or holdall that i'm happy with. I've had the korum total protection, the korum 2 and 5 rod quivers and imo they are quite badly designed. They have the bankstick holder on the same side as the attatchments for the rods so your rods are pressed onto them.

The later 3 rod quiver that I bought very recently online without seeing it (mistake) with an idea of getting a couple of korum made up sleeves to protect the rods and stop the reels bashing against one another. Anyhow the rod holders on the latest korum quivers are very small (smaller than on the older ones) so if your rods have the guide low down on the top section they won't fit into them without putting on pressure so there's absolutly no chance of fitting them in with the rods in the made up sleeve!

I've looked at a few and the best one for protecting rods (imo) are the greys made up holdalls. They have velcro straps built into the holdall so your rods are kept in place and the holdall doesn't just flop down when you unzip it...if you understand what I mean. The rod compartments are totally seperate and don't just have a thin bit of padding inbetween, but have a nice thick padding for protection. Only thing that goes against them is I think they're on the bulky side.

I have a drennan made up rod sleeve for 3 peice rods up to 15ft and that's ok, they do a double version also and also a 12ft two peice version.

If you think a lot of your rods your best off to keep them in their bags and tubes and make them up at the venue.

 

If i'm just taking one float rod, as I normally do then I make it up at home, and use elastic bands to tie it tightly together. I just put it on the back or the passenger seat until I reach the river, walk to the swim and put it together. I always break everything down after use and put it back in it's bags and tubes etc.

 

I'm still on the look out for a two rod made up holdall that's light and compact and that protects my gear !

[Anderoo]

Mine is an old 2 rod jrc holdall, I've had it a long time now and so I don't know what the modern stuff is like. As ever, you may find it better to get well looked after older stuff from eBay.

[Tigger]

Mine is an old 2 rod jrc holdall, I've had it a long time now and so I don't know what the modern stuff is like. As ever, you may find it better to get well looked after older stuff from eBay.

 

I have an old JRC three up three down holdall which is great for places where i'm gonn'a spend a couple of days or more and where I can drive close to the peg without much of a walk on arrival. It's much to bulky and heavy for the stretches ot the rivers I fish though.

I would like a made up two rod holdall, light and not bulky and that fully protects my rods n' reels etc.

[philocalist]

I'm tending towards Korum gear, in no small part because I've bought their stuff for years and it's always been well thought-out kit that lasted well and did exactly what it was supposed to do. Top contender is (was?) this:

http://www.korum.co.uk/Item_KMLUG-40#.VZVX00YYPd8 - the 2-rod Protecta Holdall ... until I found one of these for sale today, new and unused : http://www.korum.co.uk/Item_KITM-08#.VZVXykYYPd8 - the Total Protection 2 Rod Quiver.

TBH, the Holdall will do what i want, but the Quiver will do what I want, plus a lot more if necessary (though I really don't want / need the capacity to carry brollies and masses of banksticks etc) ... and the guy selling is asking taking just £20 for it, to include a very substantial JRC bag ... seems he bought it to chase barbel, then had a quick change of heart and decided sitting in a bivvy trapping carp is more his thing ... thing I really don't understand is that these have been advertised here on Gumtree http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/fishing-korum-holdall-plus-jrc-camera-bag/1119154090?utm_source=systemedm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=adreply at £25 for 29 days and no-one has snapped his hand off ... he's just accepted my offer of just £20, and they'll be in my hands by the time you all read this

Edited July 2, 2015 by philocalist

[Tigger]

The protecta is bulky... the total protection is more compact but... I sold my total total protection as I didn't like it. It's a pain as when you put your rods in it the top part keeps flopping down, the greys has built in velcro straps that will keeep this from happening.

 

The greys made up rod holdall is a much better holdall in evey way, but it's something like the bulkyness of the Protecta.

 

Imo a good quiver with made up sleeves is the best option (for myself anyhow), it's just finding one that works as it should, i'm fed up with buying these type of things and not being happy with 'em. The korums quivers come quite close but i'm sure they designed their latest models to hold their own rods, going off the rod holding material tubey bits on the bottom. As I sad in my previous post the rod butt holders are very slim and if your rod has a guide low down on the second section you'll struggle to get it in even without it being in a made up sleeve.

 

Here's one of the greys 2 rod made up holdalls....

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-Greys-Carp-Fishing-Prodigy-2-Rod-Ready-Holdall-GPRRH020-/281677970205?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item419550bb1d

Edited July 2, 2015 by Tigger