Home Forums Fishing Freshwater Looking For a Travel Rod

I know that some will feel that this should be posted in the classifieds, but I want to avoid potential scammers. What I want doesn’t seem to be readily available in the market any longer.

I’m looking for a quality (G Loomis, St Croix) Travel Rod. I want a casting rod (not Spinning), at least 7 Ft, heavy or medium heavy action, 3 or 4 piece, with a tube.

I’m going on a moose hunt this fall and will also have a chance to fish for pike and lakers during the middle of the day. I know both manufacturers I mentioned used to produce this rod but no longer do. If you have one you don’t need, please let me know. I won’t respond to replies from anyone but we’ll established members. Thanks a lot, Bob

I know you’re looking for a member to but from and I don’t have one to sell but I’ve recently purchased a St Croix Triumph that is excellent and has really served me well. They’ve got a line of travel rods in up to 6 pieces but mine is only 2.

Good luck in your search!

We've been to Canada fly in fishing about thirty times and I've refined my rod choice down to exactly what you are looking for as a travel rod only for spinning tackle. We started out with our normal light weight fiberglass spinning 6-7' rods and even a fly rod for vertical jigging. Something that I finally realized cleaning fish is that those older, bigger fish had way tougher skin and mouths than those little 15-18" milker male eating fish and that we needed stiffer rods to set into them. Dad never liked the big northerns, but since walleye is their favorite food, we'd get big northerns walleye jigging. A three piece St. Croix 7' medium power, fast action SC Graphite Tidemaster TS70MF3 came close and with a great hard case, but my all time favorite is the G-Loomis Escape ETR 81-3 MHS-15 3pc 6'9" 12-20 lb Fast Action. You can catch small fish with a medium heavy rated rod, but you can't set the hook well on a big fish with a light weight rod. I'm not sure what the same weight casting pack rod to my G-Loomis is, but you could do far worse with it's casting equivalent. Maybe eBay?

Thanks for the input, guys. I was hoping somebody here would have what I was looking for, but nothing so far. My wife is bidding for me on eBay now, on a G Loomis rod that was pretty close to what I’d asked for. There is no “buy now” option, so I’m having to play the auction game, which I hate.

I’m surprised travel rods aren’t more popular but there must not be much demand. The only St Croix rod that came close to what I was looking for was only 6’ 6”. Years ago that was perfect for me when bass fishing but I’ve gotten use to using 7 footers now and like the leverage they provide on bigger fish.

I’m taking this fishing rod on a hunting trip. Who knows, I may not get to use it much but I’ll be hunting moose in the same area I normally fish. Only difference is, it will be a couple months later. I just really don’t want to find myself in a position to catch monster pike and be unprepared. Like bear hunting with a switch! I’ve got my fingers crossed and don’t need it till October, so there is plenty of time. Thanks again for the advice.

TAC TRC 705-3

TFO has a 3pc MH 7'

Wind…
Take a look on the St. Croix web site and see if there is something you like. If so send me a message.

Osky

Thanks for the suggestion! That looks like a solid option. I’m going to check into it further and if I don’t end up buying the eBay rod, I’ll probably order one of these. Preciate it!

Definitely a big fan of my G Loomis Escape ETR84-3MLS10. They call it a medium light power but it is definitely more of a medium IMO. I feel like they were a touch conservative when rating the Escape series.

I have fished the Escape 7’ medium caster. To me, it felt more of a medium heavy and would be right at home with 30lb braid. I found it to be a great rod in an impromptu salmon/rockfish trip in WA.

The company that I worked for made industrial paper converting rollers and coverings and carbon fiber idler rolls were always in demand. You pretty much get what you pay for in high end carbon fiber fishing rods. There were three grades of carbon fiber that we used depending on the application. They were all epoxy coated and filament wound on a mandrel. Then depending on the winding wrap angle and thickness an idler could be thinner and lighter or more stiff. The same holds true for fishing rods. People see a Walmart carbon/graphite rod and think that it is the same as a St. Croix, older Fenwick or G-Loomis. Wrong. If you see a carbon fiber roll or rod with that braided, cross hatch pattern, that is the absolute garbage of the industry. That is a woven sheet wrapped around a mandrel that will have a seam where it is joined together. They clear coat or paint over that braid, but that seam is the weak point.

Osky, there was a big paper mill in Park Falls, Wisconsin and strange as it seems, I always managed to find my way over to the St. Croix rod factory there. Once in their showroom, a guy could wiggle anything that they made. We always liked a fast taper with a lot of backbone. Dad was an old guy when we had him out fishing and his hook setting technique was more of a wrist flick than crossing their eyes. A rod with lots of backbone helped a lot. Guys that I shot with really liked the St Croix rods because of their no questions asked warranty. Todd caught his rod tip in the car door and returned it for a brand new one.

As I said Wind.. if you find one you like I’ll see what I can do.

Osky

Boom! My lovely bride just got me a G Loomis ETC Escape rod on EBay. I’m all set! Thanks for the info!

Congrats! Which Escape casting rod? Medium, Med/Heavy or ?

Thanks, and it was the medium heavy rod.

Perfect. You are going to really like that rod. Medium heavy gets the job done on big fish. The difference we saw was that the guys with the lighter action rods were the same ones with the "You should have seen the one that got away" stories. That three piece Escape rod packs down so well that it fits in your duffel bag. I've seen lots of guys trying to thread one piece rods into small float planes and it is a real chore and more prone to breakage.

Thanks. I normally fly up there with a rod case full of 7 foot, one piece rods. Everyone else is doing the same thing and the pilot expects it. Actually doing that 2 weeks from today, but the trip I’m taking in Oct is a completely different affair. I agree that putting a travel rod in my duffel bag is the perfect way to go. There’s even less chance that the fine folks from TSA will snap off a rod tip. Not that I’m challenging them to try but a couple of my 7 Footers aren’t exactly that long anymore, following inspection. The travel rod I bought is an 8 footer. I’m curious to see how different it will cast and handle fish.

Love a good pack rod. I've used them for all the canoe-in northern Ontario trips we did through the 70s and 80s. Still have and use my old Eagle Claw (Wright & McGill) Trailmaster. We just returned from a fly-in trip on the Albany and we took along several Fenwick HMG travel rods. Found a great deal on them ($45) at an area warehouse-type fishing store (Northwoods), 3 piece 7' with and extra tip section. I took a spinning rod with med/light & med tips and a casting rod with medium & med/heavy tips. They worked great for walleye jigging and casting for pike. We didn't catch any monsters, largest 37", but I'm sure they would've handled them fine. Good luck on your moose hunt, look forward to hearing more about it, that's on my bucket list!

Will do, Tmitch! By the way, how did that Calcutta 201DC work out for you?

The Calcutta worked great, me on the other hand, not so much. Old dog/new trick kind of thing, I still managed to override that fancy braking system to get a few bird nests! A few thousand more casts would probably help my form a bit

Glad to hear the OP got what he wanted. Just food for thought, pike fishing rarely requires much finesse or "touch". I'd think an Ugly Stik type rod would make good sense for this application. Durability would be worth a lot for a one rod trip, especially if hucking big spoons at pike is the deal.