The Rundown: Everything You Need to Know About the Sea Run Travel Spey Case
By: Max Inchausti
Welcome back to “The Rundown,” an editorial series where we provide an all-encompassing look at the latest and greatest products from your favorite brands in the fly fishing and outdoor space. Here, we’ll run over high-level info, tech specs, and our opinions—all paired with a behind-the-scenes interview with product designers who have poured their hearts into bringing these creations from blueprints to the showroom floor.
In this Rundown, we take a look at Sea Run Cases, an Italian-based company dedicated to creating premium travel and storage solutions using the best polymer technology. Join us as we dive into their newest release: the Sea Run Spey Travel Case, built for steelheaders and two-hand rod enthusiasts.
Background:
If you’ve done any amount of traveling with fly rods, you know the potential issues—broken rods, lost gear, and an added level of inconvenience and searches going through TSA. The best way to avoid this is to check your gear in a rod travel case. Unfortunately, the market is flooded with soft cases that, while they keep you organized, do not guarantee your gear will make it to the destination in one piece. This is where Sea Run Cases comes in. They aim to create hard-sided cases with the best technology available, ensuring your gear arrives safely.
With their growing line of performance travel cases, one group was still missing out—the die-hard two-handed angler. As the market for spey rods and trout speys continues to grow, traveling to destinations where you can swing flies is becoming increasingly popular. Sea Run Cases went back to the drawing board and designed the Spey Travel Case, an all-encompassing rod and reel storage system built to withstand the abuse of rugged environments and the demanding needs of two-hand anglers.
What’s New:
Steelheaders and spey anglers are constantly on the go in search of the right flows and fish on the move. Keeping up with these fish can mean several-hour drives or trips to a different state. Sea Run devised the Spey Travel Case to keep your gear organized and ready to go at a moment’s notice.
This newest generation of cases borrows styling and technical features from its predecessors—the Norfork and Riffle Compact—in a size capable of holding a preposterous amount of gear, so much so this case has been aptly nicknamed the Guide Locker for guides looking to keep all their gear in one place.
From a technical standpoint, the case has two sides: one for rods and one for reels. The rod side has enough room to store up to five spey rods or an assortment of spey, switch, and single-hand rods. Two large recessed grooves extend from each side of the handle for added storage. Small trinkets, a knife, or even cigars fit securely in this compartment. A folding divider covers this compartment to ensure your rods stay put.
The reel side features five separate compartments—two small and three large— to organize reels, spare shooting heads, sink tips, and fly boxes. With abundant storage, spey anglers can bring all the necessary gear to modify techniques and setups depending on the river system and conditions they are fishing.
Upon closing the case, three stainless steel locks adorn the exterior. These latch-style locks are TSA approved and secure to prevent the case from opening, even if you check it. The case features a burly but comfortable handle design for easy transportation to and from your fishing destination. In addition, double-wall ABS construction makes the case practically indestructible. It’s a necessity, considering how hard steelheaders are on gear. For convenience, the Spey Travel Case has flat iron feet to allow this case to stand upright on its own.
Tech Specs:
Here are the tech specs for the Sea Run Spey Travel Case.
| Weight | 13.4 lbs |
| Dimensions | 10 x 10 x 48 in |
| Colors | Espresso or Sea Moss |
| Reel Capacity | Up to 8 Reels |
| Rod Capacity | 5 Spey and Switch Rods |
| Maximum Rod Length | 43.5” per section (14’ 6” full length equivalent) |
| Locks | 3 Combination Locks |
| TSA Compliant | Yes |
| International Air Travel Certified | Yes |
| Warranty | Limited Lifetime Warranty |
Our Experience:
At Flylords, we’ve been fortunate enough to work closely with Sea Run in the development stage of this case. Starting with early prototypes to the current version, we’ve traveled and fished the Spey Travel Case hard. We’ve put it through the wringer, from float planes in Alaska to Pacific Northwest winter steelhead and everything in between. So far, it’s still going strong.
The Spey Travel Case is designed to hold up to five rods. With our demanding and technique-specific fisheries, we are able to bring every rod for every scenario. We can float flies on a nymph rig, swing big water with a spey rod, or break out a switch for those medium-sized rivers. When we reach our destination, everything is organized and ready to go in the case. While five rods are what Sea Run rates the case for, we’ve fit up to seven rods of varying length and size.
On the reel side of things, the five compartments have ample storage for various-sized fly reels. If you were to look at our case, you’d find bigger, 10- to 12-size spey reels for large systems like the Skeena and a variety of smaller-sized reels for smaller switch rods and single-hand rods. With 4-5 reels in the case, there is still adequate room for fly boxes, leader material, and shooting heads/sink tip wallets. The beauty in this is having everything ready to go in a single spot. You no longer have to pilfer through the garage and your gear to ensure you are ready for a day of fishing. The beauty in that is more time on the water. In addition, the Spey Travel Case can hold impressively large conventional reels, including 18,000-sized tuna reels, as we found out recently.
Perhaps our favorite feature of the case is the hardware and exterior shell. Built with what Sea Run calls its ABS technology, the shell is bulletproof. We’ve thrown it in boats, on seaplanes, in and out of cars, and checked it more than its fair share of times, with not so much as a scratch to show for it. Wrapping out the case are the stainless steel locking latches. Reliable latches are a must when traveling. We want our gear to make it to the destination safely and be able to access it when it’s time to fish. The stainless steel latch construction makes for a rustproof design. Rust is always a concern on coastal steelhead rivers where salt and freshwater meet. We’ve fished countless dates in these harsh conditions, and our latches work like the day we received the case.
If we had to pick out any downsides to the case, it would be the weight. At 13.4 pounds empty, it is on the heavier side. That said, when buying a premium travel case, you want to know it’s up to the task of protecting your gear. The added weight certainly gives it the burley feel you’d expect when investing in a case of this caliber.
A Short Interview with Sea Run:
After toting the Spey Travel Case across the PNW and Alaska this past fall, we were eager to sit down with the team from Sea Run. We sat down with Stephen Lamboy, owner and founder of Sea Run Cases, to understand what went into making a case up to the standards of steelheaders.
Flylords: Who are you, and what is your position with Sea Run Cases?
I’m Stephen Lamboy, and my wife Elena and I are founders and owners of Sea Run Cases. We started a sporting case business in our garage over 10 years ago and added fly travel cases 4 years ago.
Flylords: What inspired Sea Run Cases to make a spey specific case?
I was inspired by my good friend Mervyn Manningham-Buller in the UK. He and his pals are serious world traveling spey casters. Merv is a great product developer in his own right, and we have both been a nuisance at it for years. I wanted a complete line of travel cases to cover all types of fly fishing, from trout to tarpon and steelhead to salmon. We want to be the “go-to” source for fly fishing travel luggage and gear.
Flylords: What separates this case from all the other cases Sea Run Makes?
The Spey Case case offers very high capacity in a compact design. Building the travel case for spey fishermen presented a big challenge because many of these adventurers are gear mavens, and they need to be so. They often travel far and must be prepared for all opportunities and conditions. We had to keep the case light and air travel certified while securing an amazing amount of gear in terms of varying size rods, reels, fly boxes, wading staffs, and an endless number of accessories. Some even wanted an area for a mini medical kit and a place for cigars, which we created. The Spey Locker is also a Guides Locker by virtue of the amount of gear it can hold. Bear spray fits, too.
Flylords: What kind of research and development went into bringing this case to life?
We spent the better part of two years from concept to delivery, with several iterations in between. Our team spoke with many spey fishermen and dealers. We worked with our marketing partners at Flylords, who encouraged us and provided field testing. They are a fly fishing product think tank. We spent much time in Italy at the Negrini factory reviewing design concepts. Many iterations were tested in CAD to ensure the specific materials and lightweight double wall construction would pass our impact and crush tests (our Norfork case just passed in an actual plane crash!). The special foam padding is not just foam. It is foam with resistance to salt and fresh water as well as oil-based lubricants and the occasional spilled shot of Makers Mark. The case is a little long, and this also presents a challenge. Graziano Negrini created unique “foot pads” so the case would rest securely on a flat surface. Next, how does it carry and feel in the hand? Where is the weight balance? This took time. We are both a bit particular about design.
Flylords: What makes a case like this “premium”?
Form and Function + Best Technical Materials + Hand Building = Premium. It is impossible for an engineer in the Ferrari auto manufacturing area in Northern Italy to design UGLY. They refuse to do it. It must be beautiful and perform better than any other. Quality materials are very important for hand building. You must really understand this. No handbuilder wants to work with cheap materials. Where is the pride? Believe me, Italians are proud of their work. It is their baby, and it will be an Olympian like no other.
Flylords: What kind of angler are these cases built for?
Initially, we totally focused on the traveling salmon and steelhead spey fishermen to accommodate their needs. From sending the first prototype out for use in the field, we have achieved the right design and performance. Our tester won’t give it back! However, news travels fast, and now that we have cases in use, we see an unexpected customer buying them—trout guides. It holds so many trout rods, reels and gear that it seems to have hit a nerve with these professionals.
Flylords: What are some other functions this case serves?
As I mentioned, the trout guides seem to be adopting it well and now we are receiving inquiries from spin fishermen. I’m not sure where it will all go. We listen to the customer and try to build what they need even if it has not been consciously identified. I think we are addicted to this development.
Flylords: When will these be available to consumers?
We started shipping on December 10. They are available through our limited network of dealers and outfitters and on our website at searuncases.com.
Final Thoughts
Whether searching for a bucket list fish or exploring your backyard, organization goes a long way. We’ve relied on Sea Run Cases in the past for their rugged reliability and thoughtful designs. The newest addition to their lineup, the Spey Travel Case, implements all the technology and reliability Sea Run is known for into a spey-sized piece of gear. The ample, organized storage and legendary ABS construction are perfect for die-hard steelhead anglers and gear aficionados alike. Couple that with an exceptional warranty and premium components; Sea Run created the ultimate travel case. If you see us on the water, be sure to check out our Spey Travel Case. We won’t leave home without it.
