How do I store all these damn fly rod tubes?

Josh

Josh

Dead in the water
Staff member
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I have too many fly rods. Especially for the amount of free time I have to actually get out and fish them. So goes life. I suspect I'm not alone in this.

But I also am extremely tired of having a giant messy pile of rod tubes that I can't easily access but yet are in the way all the time. Who has solutions?

Most of the internet stuff I see appears to assume that someone is looking to store 4-6 tubes. I want to store like... 20. I don't need fancy. My garage isn't trying to look like a fly shop display. Doesn't even really need to be accessed all that often. Just needs to hold a bunch of tubes, be out of the way, and not be a giant hassle to find the tube I'm looking for without the whole mess crashing to the ground.

Yes, there's a tube of wrapping paper in there.

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Josh said:
I have too many fly rods. Especially for the amount of free time I have to actually get out and fish them. So goes life. I suspect I'm not alone in this.

But I also am extremely tired of having a giant messy pile of rod tubes that I can't easily access but yet are in the way all the time. Who has solutions?

Most of the internet stuff I see appears to assume that someone is looking to store 4-6 tubes. I want to store like... 20. I don't need fancy. My garage isn't trying to look like a fly shop display. Doesn't even really need to be accessed all that often. Just needs to hold a bunch of tubes, be out of the way, and not be a giant hassle to find the tube I'm looking for without the whole mess crashing to the ground.

Yes, there's a tube of wrapping paper in there.

View attachment 188554
Click to expand...

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us_LTJMZ50CLDS04044DV0_goods_img_big-v2_blueprint-storage-f2.webp
 
1. You can never have too many fly rods. You always have one less than you need.
2. Unless you are Felix Unger, or really need to have your rods in some sort of order, use a large tall trashcan. In addition, to being able to hold all your rods, no one (except you) will really know how many, or what type of rods you own. So, you will have an excuse to get another!
 
kmudgn said:
1. You can never have too many fly rods. You always have one less than you need.
2. Unless you are Felix Unger, or really need to have your rods in some sort of order, use a large tall trashcan. In addition, to being able to hold all your rods, no one (except you) will really know how many, or what type of rods you own. So, you will have an excuse to get another!
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a 5 gal bucket will hold a mess of rods.
 
kmudgn said:
1. You can never have too many fly rods. You always have one less than you need.
2. Unless you are Felix Unger, or really need to have your rods in some sort of order, use a large tall trashcan. In addition, to being able to hold all your rods, no one (except you) will really know how many, or what type of rods you own. So, you will have an excuse to get another!
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I use a large round trashcan sized wicker basket.
 
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This is similar to what I use. Should accommodate 20 tubes...very small footprint'. I have 12 large rod/reel tubes in mine with lots of room left.
approx 34" H x 18" W x 12" D (at top)
Re stability: I wondered if the hamper might be tippy, but, IMO, the weight of the tubes directly to the bottom of hamper seems to counter the tippiness.
hamper.jpg

BTW: Ask a fly shop if you have too many rods...They're experts...:giggle:
 
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The "plan storage" style rack that @DimeBrite posted about might be the ticket. $35 for this one and you get a weird little storage pouch to go with it!
Screenshot 2026-07-19 at 12.17.45 PM.png
On the other hand, the laundry basket @Herkileez posted might be even easier and is $8 at Walmart (bought one for laundry purposes last week). I do worry it might be a bit tippy. Narrow footprint is great for space saving, but not for stability. I guess I should test with the one I have sitting here. Though that means I'd have to do some laundry to empty it... sigh.
 
Josh said:
The "plan storage" style rack that @DimeBrite posted about might be the ticket. $35 for this one and you get a weird little storage pouch to go with it!
View attachment 188561
On the other hand, the laundry basket @Herkileez posted might be even easier and is $8 at Walmart (bought one for laundry purposes last week). I do worry it might be a bit tippy. Narrow footprint is great for space saving, but not for stability. I guess I should test with the one I have sitting here. Though that means I'd have to do some laundry to empty it... sigh.
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That actually the exact one that I ended up getting....I really like it for this purpose.
 
Josh said:
The "plan storage" style rack that @DimeBrite posted about might be the ticket. $35 for this one and you get a weird little storage pouch to go with it!
View attachment 188561
On the other hand, the laundry basket @Herkileez posted might be even easier and is $8 at Walmart (bought one for laundry purposes last week). I do worry it might be a bit tippy. Narrow footprint is great for space saving, but not for stability. I guess I should test with the one I have sitting here. Though that means I'd have to do some laundry to empty it... sigh.
Click to expand...
Re the laundry basket: nail it to a heavy board with a larger footprint?
 
I can confirm that the $8 laundry basket will hold 20 tubes (including 4 being larger spey tubes). It doesn't look as tidy as the blueprint holder setup, because the different tubes don't line up equally in rows. But for the price, it's a pretty solid way to go. And despite my concerns about stability, the overall weight seems to keep it fairly resistant to tipping.

Walmart version
Target version

IMG_8347 Large.jpegIMG_8348 Large.jpeg
 
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