FIshing Rods in short bed.

Hello all, I am looking for some advice on how best to transport some fishing rods on a vacation trip to Florida in the next couple months. The trip is going to be around a 1,000 mile drive so it is a pretty good distance. I do drive a 5.5 short bed and have rods that are 7'6" in length. I know i can fit the 7' corner to corner somewhat, but I was looking for some ideas on how other people may have done this successfully. I do have the hard tonneau folding cover on the bed as well. Just curious if people have had any issues maybe just leaving the tailgate down and cover on, or maybe buying some 3" pvc and just ratchet strapping it to the top of the bed cover. Any tips or other advice are appreciated. Also, I would rather not have to buy some big expensive rack of sorts for just a single trip or 2 I may do a year.

 

Not a solution but may give you some ideas. 4" PVC sewer pipe is fairly cheap. Cutting to length and glueing a cap and threaded end with threaded cap is easily done. Strapping it down may be a challenge. I put a 7'6" tube on the back of my travel trailer so I have it easy. People think it's a sewer pipe holder and don't mess with it.

If you can find some points to tie it down and foam to protect your bed cover it's an option.

 

Yes, that is something that makes sense to try to me as well. Or maybe a fishing rod case hard or soft and just use bungee straps etc to lay it down on top of the bed. I was reading about someone doing it with no pipe just bungee cords and zip ties rods to them lol. Not sure I would want everything in the elements like that, but also could maybe work.

 

Pool noodles have many uses.

 

Since the weather is dry can you leave the hardcover folded open then put soft rod holders sticking out over the tailgate?

 

Buy some travel rods.

Just went through this myself, except they have to stow in the back of a Land Cruiser.

You should be able to find 3 piece travel rods with a case for about $80-$100 per rod.

 

I understand his desire for a one piece rod. Especially for larger fish.

 

We have a fishing gear that we did not want damaged. The big stuff and even the small reels we took off and wrapped in towels and put into a couple bags. The rods we wrapped each one and I have a plumber friend and I asked him for a 8 foot piece of 6 or 8 inch with caps. We put the rods in there. We only stopped one night from Texas to Msrathon and my daughter and I carried the tube inside the motel and the manager put it in the office for us overnight. Fits good in the truck as we tied down both ends. No damage to our gear and nothing flew out!

Personally I world not do it any other way. It keeps everything secure from moving around and nothing is going to come thru that green piece of plastic pipe!

I do not know where y'all are going???

If you make it to the Keys you have to stop at Bud and Mary's just to say you have been there plus you get to see monster Tarpon at the dock waiting to be fed when fisherman come back and clean their fish.
Then in Key West if you can, go through Mel Fisher's Atocha museum, and at the laundry mat stop and get a Cuban samwich. That place has been there since the beginning of time. It is just a quaint little samwich shop right at the laundry mat and the samwich aren't bad either.

 

We will be driving from Kentucky down to Clearwater Florida in August. I do prefer using 1 pc rods as over the travel rods as well for that reason. Will be going out for some stuff inshore and offshore both as I have a friend who plans on taking me out a few times.

My only concern with this was the length of the trip, as I will have suitcases etc also in the bed since the cab will be full of my family and other "trip essentials". The weather should be good, but being a 13-14 hour drive could have some issues at anytime. It is Florida of course so its going to rain everyday lol.

 

I had thought about that as well with maybe some padded tie downs or bungees to keep them from moving too much. Only concerns for me are not damaging the side of truck or top of bed cover. I wouldnt think most straps or cords would damage much if find some kind of padding that wouldnt mess up my wind chill pearl paint.

 

So we travel 15 hrs 1 way to fish in Canada, had the same issue.

Went and bought water grade pvc the teal stuff, a bit thicker than the white PVC. Turned it into a rod holder, screw on cap on one end. We put padding on both ends and rods go into rod socks before being placed in.

To secure it I bought KB Voodoo cross bars that work with hard tonneau covers. Used tiedown straps or could use u bolts for more security.

That pipe has made 4 trips up north and home and never had an issue.

 

Would a 7’6” pvc sewer pipe fit under the cab inside the pass side frame rail

 

Put it in the bed and leave the back flap open with the tailgate up. I do not know if they can be done as I have never had a cover like that.
Clearwater is a blast. They also have some decent fishing in that area. Best of luck!

 

Or foam pipe insulation, a bit more compact with size (ID) choices. Might be harder for OP to find though, it’s common and cheap here, eh.

I’d do the drain pipe idea of whatever size is needed, lay it on the tonneau cover, loop straps around it front and back with the ratchets and hooks under sides of the cover to the tie-downs. 1/2 turn twist in the straps so they don’t sing…

I’ve hauled a queen mattress tied to the top of my tonneau this way, worked stellar, and have no doubt it would work great. Crawling in to do up / loosen the front strap is the only downside I see.

 

Ah gotcha.

Yeah anything much bigger than what you can expect to reasonably land on 15lb test line is probably too much for a travel rod.

We just plan to fish freshwater for small mouth bass, pan fish, and maybe walleye (although I prefer to troll for those or pitch jigs from a boat). I doubt we see anything much bigger than a 20” fish where we’re going, even though the lake holds northern pike and muskellunge.

My guess is a lot of small pan fish, which is fine. I’ve got 7 days of vacation coming up in July to refresh my skills on a baitcaster, get super angry, and then revert to a spinning reel. LOL.

 

Go out and buy some 6ft long or however long your longest rod is.
Pvc pipe 6 inches in diameter a cap and a threaded end.
Stuff a few rags in it and your fine.
This isn't new.