riverman wrote:

I agree that you can choose to go without a tube while backpacking, but I'd
still carry a tube, just for those errant branches or occasional stumbles
and falls. I find that the commercial tubes are big enough to put several
rods in, so making a snug PVC one might still be lighter than the stock
tube.

Carrying "several" rods on a lightweight backbacking trip sounds kind of
nuts to me. :-)

I loved your TRs from NZ, BTW.

Or another idea I have considered was to make a PVC tube and lash that to my
frame with zip ties, and leave a little groove in the top wide enough so
that I could sheathe it with the reel attached. That way, if I was hiking
alongside a stream, I could leave the rod rigged up with the reel on it,
break it down without taking the line off, and slip it into the tube like a
holster. The rod could be kept in the holster with a short piece of bungee
that slipped over the reel.

When I'm hiking and fishing, I usually carry my rod in my right hand,
completely rigged up.

Another good alternative is to carry a 2-piece rod in a very durable
tube, which does double duty as a hiking stick.

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