I finally broke down and bought a rod rack.
Over the last three or four years, I have probably broken two tips rattling around in the back of my pickup truck. In addition, when fishing from place to place, it’s a real hassle to reassemble the rod, attach the reel, and thread the line at each stop. It subtracts from the overall quality of the experience and the amount of fishing time available. After doing a little bit of research, it looked like this product was the best at the cheapest price.
But, would it hold? I took a risk and spent the money. When it arrived I discovered it worked primarily by magnetic attachment. No biggie… until I was stunned to discover that my 2001 Ranger did not have a metal hood. Who would’ve thought that a 10-year-old truck would be made mostly out of some other material than metal? Geez… it’s a truck! After some desperate trial and error, I discovered that the roof was metal and that the rack gripped tightly to it. Now the scary part… Would the rod fly off in use?
Last week, I took the day off to do additional research on my upcoming book about trout fishing in Maryland. I wanted to fish several different spots on the Savage River. With a deep breath, I assembled my old TFO rod (I did not want to risk my Fly Fishing Benefactors rod) and popped on a reel.
I am happy to report that there were no issues with this model running at 55 mph in a downpour. The rod was in the rack for approximately 3 hours as I drove from place to place and I did not remove it until I was in Keyser and ready for the long haul home.
I did a few things to stack the deck in my favor. I used the hook keeper and tightened the line down to put pressure on the rod tip to make sure the sections would not wiggle free as the wind pushed to the rear. Then, to hold everything in place, I cranked down on the drag to keep the reel from moving and unspooling line.
Nary a problem. I will trust this to my good gear in the future!
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Unless stated otherwise, this article was authored by Steve Moore
Sadly, this particular rack is not longer available on Amazon – the button shows what is available.
