wading - carrying two rods - any ideas?

[fishinwrench]

Tether a solo canoe to your waist pack then you can not only have another rod (or 3), you can also bring a cooler and some grub, camera, cell phone, and a folding chair to just sit and chill on a gravel bar if you want.  Wade/fish on the way up then float back down.   

That's the way I do it.  

[mjk86]

7 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

Tether a solo canoe to your waist pack then you can not only have another rod (or 3), you can also bring a cooler and some grub, camera, cell phone, and a folding chair to just sit and chill on a gravel bar if you want.  Wade/fish on the way up then float back down.   

That's the way I do it.  

That's what we used to do when wading the big river in bonne terre,  except we used an inflatable raft.  Can carry all you need then some.

[MOPanfisher]

We do that a lot on Niangua and a few other places, but there are some small creeks that I like to fish where it simply isn't wide enough to drag a canoe through.  Honestly I just take one rod and if I feel the need I will switch out lures, otherwise I live and die with what I have tied on.

[Brian Jones]

13 hours ago, joeD said:

Simplify your life and carry one rod. You can tie a new lure on quicker than you can contort your body and pack and go through the rigmarole of switching rods. Plus, it's just more to carry and get in the way. 

That's good advice Joe.  I've been racking my brain all winter trying to figure out how to carry at least two rods while wading. And truthfully (like you said) it would be far more trouble trying to pack multiple rods as opposed to just re-tying baits.  Thanks for bringing this to light for us more simple minded fellers who are try to drive round pegs in square holes.  

[Flysmallie]

How about something like this. Attach it to the side that you don't cast from with the tip pointing backwards.

[budman]

I sometimes carry a spinning rod along with my fly rod. I usually just stuff the handle of the spinning rod down the back of my pants and tilt it to the left, since I cast right handed. Then tuck the fly rod under my left arm when using the spinning rod. When I get to a hole I want to work a while I just sit one rod against something. It works but my look into that rod holder you can hang from you belt.

[Al Agnew]

I've tried it a few times.  Don't remember how I did it, but decided it just wasn't worth it; the creeks I wade are small and brushy in places and I was always worrying about the tip of the rod I wasn't using getting hung in the brush.  I've taken both a fly rod and a casting rod to Maramec Spring in the winter to fish half the day for trout with the fly rod and the other half for smallmouth with the casting rod, but I took four piece rods, both the casting (a travel rod) and the fly rod, and broke down whichever one I wasn't using and strapped it to my pack.

[LarrySTL]

I take a couple crosslock snaps with me wading. If I think I might want to change lures quickly or want to experiment with several lures, I will use a snap.  Otherwise, I just retie; I tend to use a palomar knot which makes retying a pretty quick process, particularly if the backup lure is where I can get it pretty fast.    I do like Wrench's wade with canoe idea tho for places where that makes sense.

[hoglaw]

I live on the creek I fish so a lot of my trips are very quick trips. I'm not dragging a canoe or kayak on these, though I do float it. The snap is not an option for me. I can retie as quick as anyone, but a lot of the time I'm using braid and a floro leader. The deal here is I like to swim a swim bait through the holes then follow up with a ned. It's nice to be able to switch back and forth really quickly, but it would be cool to have a convenient way to carry a back up rod I'm going to look  into the little side snaps like the picture above. 

[timinmo]

Hog

I carry two rods wading all the time.  I have tried a couple different methods.  I used to use a Pals Chest Pack( I am not sure of the name but if you look around I am sure you will find it).  I pop riveted a PVC rod holder onto the back strap of the pack, these are available about anywhere.  My newer system uses a shoulder bag that hangs on my right side, strap over my left shoulder.  The butt of the rod goes in a strap that was already on the pack and the upper part of the rod goes thru a "hook" that I installed. This keeps the rod pointing over my left shoulder, I am right handed.  I do not have any pictures of these systems, but if you are interested I can take some and post them.  The shoulder pack is a Maxpedition Versa pack, I think, but there are other brands.  I do not think there are any ready made packs to carry another rod at least I never saw any.  What I use puts the extra rod projecting over my left shoulder and yes you need to watch out if you are going under low trees.