Travel rod recommendations

[faker]

Hi guys, 

Recently I have Been thinking of getting a travel rod. Especially for my trip to parts of Asia and need one that can fit a suit case while still be able to cover species. 

Countries are japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

 

[Little_Flatty]

I've had a number of travel rods over the years, but my favourite is a Shimano Maikuro telescopic. It's not the best rod out there, but it's very compact and good enough. Even handled a good sized juvenile GT when I was last up on the Gold Coast.

Many of the 'travel' rods out there are actually no shorter than many two piece rods; a two piece 6ft rod can be shorter in pieces than a longer 'travel' three piece. Pay close attention to the collapsed package length.

[Yowie]

I bought a 3 piece rod (from the alphabet shop), added a reel, and keep it permanently in my car. Tried it once, but no fish and freshwater use only that time.

Just work out what you may catch, then work out reel and line strength.

 

[AlbertW]

18 minutes ago, faker said:

Hi guys, 

Recently I have Been thinking of getting a travel rod. Especially for my trip to parts of Asia and need one that can fit a suit case while still be able to cover species. 

Countries are japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

 

I;ve recently purchase one of the new shimano revolution travels but find the bream rod a bit heavy for my liking, there's also the shimano raider travels for a cheaper option or like @Little_Flatty recommended I like the maikuro series as well due to their price and value

[dirvin21]

Samaki zing travel rods 

We've got a couple, they've handled some eeioys punishment including the amazon and Thailand 

[DerekD]

Little light on details....

What line and lure rating? Spinning reel or baitcaster?

Four piece or 3 piece. What is the maximum packed length that you can work with.

Budget?

Edited November 17, 2023 by DerekD

[faker]

1 hour ago, DerekD said:

Little light on details....

What line and lure rating? Spinning reel or baitcaster?

Four piece or 3 piece. What is the maximum packed length that you can work with.

Budget?

Need something that can handle coral trout/ type of species based on where i am. Don;t really care about 3 or 4 pieces but need it to fit 1 Mtr clearance in suitcase (preferbly lower). budget around $120 and may be $130

Have absolutely no idea what works on stuff like coral trout and small cod/groupers

[DerekD]

We are starting to zero in on something but you need to be clear about the expected size and weight of the target species. Travel rod is a bit too vague. Bait or lure?

I've got several older 3-piece Shimano travel rods. Bream (2-4kg spinning), Snapper (5-8kg spinning), Barramundi (4-7kg baitcast) and BEAST (50lb Spinning)!! 3 of those were from the Shimano Raider series. The last was from the Shimano Revolution series.

I've also got two 4 piece Crucius rods (I still blame @Little_Flatty and am grateful to him for showing me these) and a 4 piece fly rod.

You've also got extendable rods which pack down smaller than the one meter you've specified but they have always felt a little clunky to me.

If it is a one off trip then go cheaper. If you want something for life then spend that little extra. There is little to break and unless you are a frequent traveller they won't see a lot of use and thus wear and tear.

As a starting point, here are some of the excellent value Raider travel rod (there are also the Shimano Grappler/Zodius/Revolution ranges) specs:

I think you should be looking at something capable of handling up to 30 or 35gram lures (1 oz lures fall within this range). Then probably spinning with a line weight of around 5 to 7kg (say 12lbs to 15lbs). This sort of outfit will comfortably land just legal kings and meter long mulloway if you do your job. So what if you lose the odd fish.

Edited November 17, 2023 by DerekD

[dirvin21]

7 hours ago, faker said:

Need something that can handle coral trout/ type of species based on where i am. Don;t really care about 3 or 4 pieces but need it to fit 1 Mtr clearance in suitcase (preferbly lower). budget around $120 and may be $130

Have absolutely no idea what works on stuff like coral trout and small cod/groupers

Might struggle to find something for your budget

Shimano revolution inshore travel series might have something 

For coral trout and other tropical reefies you need stopping power preferably something in the 10-15kg line class

[faker]

16 minutes ago, dirvin21 said:

Might struggle to find something for your budget

Shimano revolution inshore travel series might have something 

For coral trout and other tropical reefies you need stopping power preferably something in the 10-15kg line class

To be fair hk coral trout are only at most 2-3kg. Worst thing I would run into is queenfish which is not the season

[faker]

6 hours ago, DerekD said:

We are starting to zero in on something but you need to be clear about the expected size and weight of the target species. Travel rod is a bit too vague. Bait or lure?

I've got several older 3-piece Shimano travel rods. Bream (2-4kg spinning), Snapper (5-8kg spinning), Barramundi (4-7kg baitcast) and BEAST (50lb Spinning)!! 3 of those were from the Shimano Raider series. The last was from the Shimano Revolution series.

I've also got two 4 piece Crucius rods (I still blame @Little_Flatty and am grateful to him for showing me these) and a 4 piece fly rod.

You've also got extendable rods which pack down smaller than the one meter you've specified but they have always felt a little clunky to me.

If it is a one off trip then go cheaper. If you want something for life then spend that little extra. There is little to break and unless you are a frequent traveller they won't see a lot of use and thus wear and tear.

As a starting point, here are some of the excellent value Raider travel rod (there are also the Shimano Grappler/Zodius/Revolution ranges) specs:

I think you should be looking at something capable of handling up to 30 or 35gram lures (1 oz lures fall within this range). Then probably spinning with a line weight of around 5 to 7kg (say 12lbs to 15lbs). This sort of outfit will comfortably land just legal kings and meter long mulloway if you do your job. So what if you lose the odd fish.

will be mostly looking at fish around this size at max. most will probably half the size based on what i have seen. This is based on where i am staying. in terms of lures, I have seen people using prawn type baits on them on HK harbour. Cast distance might be an issue though. I do have a travel telescopic rod for bait use already but in terms of lures.

Well I could do the dumb thing and try target seabass which is like their version of mulloway. In saying that i could probably wait buying rod till i get to japan

 

[Little_Flatty]

I've never thought about going fishing in Hong Kong. Looks fun.

Looking at that guy's outfit, it's probably like a 3-6kg baitcaster outfit. Or a 6-8 like a Barra outfit. So no need to go too crazy.

Depends how much you want to spend. Another budget option is the Rovex Specialist travel series. I have two of them (3-6kg and 5-8kg) and they are perfectly adequate, pretty good actually (no rod tube though, but you can easily fashion yourself one from some PVC pipe).

[faker]

3 hours ago, Little_Flatty said:

I've never thought about going fishing in Hong Kong. Looks fun.

Looking at that guy's outfit, it's probably like a 3-6kg baitcaster outfit. Or a 6-8 like a Barra outfit. So no need to go too crazy.

Depends how much you want to spend. Another budget option is the Rovex Specialist travel series. I have two of them (3-6kg and 5-8kg) and they are perfectly adequate, pretty good actually (no rod tube though, but you can easily fashion yourself one from some PVC pipe).

I could always just bait fish with cousins gear. But after looking up species there I gotta say sydney sucks for variety without a boat. I will make note to retire in Queensland 

[dirvin21]

7 hours ago, faker said:

To be fair hk coral trout are only at most 2-3kg. Worst thing I would run into is queenfish which is not the season

A 2-3 kg coral trout are hard to stop they fight dirty and hard, heading straight for cover ad soon as they're hooked, cod/grouper are no different 

Personally I used a PE 2-4 rod and it felt a bit undergunned, 

Queenies are no problem on light gear just got to tire them out 

[dirvin21]

6 hours ago, faker said:

will be mostly looking at fish around this size at max. most will probably half the size based on what i have seen. This is based on where i am staying. in terms of lures, I have seen people using prawn type baits on them on HK harbour. Cast distance might be an issue though. I do have a travel telescopic rod for bait use already but in terms of lures.

Well I could do the dumb thing and try target seabass which is like their version of mulloway. In saying that i could probably wait buying rod till i get to japan

 

Watched video have a better understanding on what you're fishing

These are couple of travel rods we have that are close to your budget

The vertitas is a spin also comes a bit lighter

The daiwa TD is baitcast  is a great rod light with serious stopping power  I can cast surprisingly light lures woth it

[Blackfish]

What Dave said about Coral Trout Vs Queenfish