I have a Thorne/Jr's tackle/rod bag and recently bought a Jason Mitchell spring bobber rod. What's the best way to pack the thing? Surely there are people out there who don't throw their rods in a bucket tip out or a hard sided case. Any good suggestions on how to pack this thing without bending the heck out of the wire spring?

I use tubes for golf club bags. I cut them to length, slide over the rod before I put into the rod bag.

otter hard case with the foam on the inside never had a problem with the legend springs.

I use Clam Rod Slicks or something similar. Works great when combined with a protective rod bag. Just have to make sure you are careful when putting it over the rod so the bobber does not get bent. They are also great for eliminating line tangles and snagging rod tips between rods when packing the type of rod bags with the hard tube for the rods.

Thanks all. Good idea fishwater. The JR bags come with individual rod covers, but I find them too tight. Broke 2 rods last year just trying to get them into the covers. I like the golf tube idea. Will have to give that a try.

I use the MarCum Rod storage pack. You can only keep 4 rods in there... so I throw 4 spring bobber rods in there and keep my other rods in a croxton bag.

I've got the cumbersome St. Croix rod bad, but since it has square corners, I cut some foam to fit and make those slits in the foam so it can hold the rod in place. I've made it into a three rod holder with breakdown handles.

For the other spare rods that gets thrown into the bucket/sled I've got one inch pipe insulation.

Otter rod box and it will keep all ones rods safe for sure. A great hard sided box.

One could also look at the Stone Legacy revolution bas as it holds rods nice and some tackle boxes also.

Harvey, how many rods can you fit in the otter with the reels attached?

I have two cheap hard sided gun cases, and they are pretty slick and would protect great, and are actually really lightweight and relatively short. But since they are narrow, you have to be careful to fit three in one. Wondering if you really can get 4 an otter, or if that is only if you pack them perfect. Thanks!

I just got an otter box yesterday and have five in it with out organizing much. I bet If I placed them perfectly I could get 1 or 2 more in there.

I don't recall the particular rod bags that I have, but ...

One is an all-soft and padded rectangular bag that will hold 6 combos (3 reels at one end, 3 reels at the other end). All 6 could be spring bobber rods and make it through in great shape.

The other rod bags I have each have 1 large hard tube in them. I only put 1 spring bobber rod in each of those at a time, the springs get crowded inside the tube and bad things can happen.