Wrote this a while back Gerhard
Hi Chaps I was busy packing my fishing gear for my return to the gulf and I thought I’d share a few tips with you. While most of my gear is GT specific the same things will apply to most types of fishing. The main thing to remember is that carry on luggage is your best friend when flying with tackle especially if you like jigging! Fortunately I didn’t bring any jigging gear out as I was fishing of St. Lucia and Vidal.
The main aim is to carry the heaviest things as hand luggage and protect the most valuable bits of gear.
The items I always take as carry on is my reel bodies and lures remember that spools full of line and spare line are not allowed on the plane as they can be used as weapons this isn’t as silly as it sounds as I can’t think of a better garrotte than 100 lbs braid. Hooks of any shape or size are also a no no.
I have a bit of a Tupperware fetish as you’ll see in the photos they are cheap come in all shapes and sizes and if you get the heavy duty ones tuff as hell
Here are my reels broken down with the spools in a strong container the spools for the high end reels are expensive and worth protecting I’ve heard horror stories of guys arriving in the middle of nowhere with dented and buggered spools
My carry on reel bag notice the Tupperware!
All my lures go in a backpack with my laptop, Camera and other things worth protecting. All the hooks have been removed and I keep them within easy reach for inspection. I do the same with my light tackle lures the main reason for this is to save weight. My lure collection has lost a fair amount of weight due to taxes from the IRS (Ikona Rory Stole’em) but my lure wrap still weighs 5 kilos and my light tackle box 3 which quite a few pairs of undies.
Here’s some of the light tackle stuff, the lures on the left can’t have their hooks removed so they are a no go on the plane I promise all those little lures add up fast its worth stripping them and taking them on as hand luggage, doing this also gives you a chance to evaluate the terminals and upgrade them where necessary. If you are flying to the ends of the earth for a once in a lifetime fishing trip bent hooks and opened split rings can often be a challenge source and replace, especially as it can be difficult to see when sobbing uncontrollably.
Here is the stuff that won’t go on the plane Pliers, hooks, splitrings, swivels, PR bobbin, braid scissors, knot lighter and a few other odds and sods. Always keep in mind that you don’t want to have to explain things if your bag is searched imagine trying to explain to a suspicious customs officer who speaks no English what you use a PR bobbin for, you’ll more than like take a trip to meet a man with a rubber glove which isn’t how you want to start your adventure.
If you are going to be travelling you have to invest in a decent rod tube I have a fairly cheap Bazooka tube which is strong and fits plenty of rods when I bought it I first jumped on it stood on it and tried to break it in the shop much to the delight of the sales person. Remember to always insist that your tube flies for free I haven’t had to pay for mine yet, if Golfers and cyclists can do it so can we it is sports equipment after all (and mine weighs 8 kilos fully loaded)
There are other things worth checking on as well I know Australia won’t let you bring used braid into the country and will strip all your spools as they say braid can carry contaminants but they are the only one I know of who do this. Another thing worth doing is loading pictures of yourself with fish onto your cell phone as a picture is worth a thousand words when you lack the local lingo! This has helped me on a few occasions with flights and border crossings it’ll almost always change to topic of discussion from who are you and what do you want? To what fish is that and how and where did you get it?
Right so now you have a few tips on how to travel so no more excuses let’s get a few UA boys to the Musandam for some GT mayhem!
