Flying with Rods

There is no point in locking. tsa or another customs will cut it off if they want to. The hassle is will your rod case keep up with your luggage. It is oversized and handled differently.

Does the rod case come out on the round motorized thing (?) the bags are on when you arrive?

What I don't know and would like to hear about is importing fresh caught fish
back to the usa?

Freeze it at the hotel and put in ice chest.. bring a roll of duct tape..and seal it up good after the airline officials check it out.. they will not allow ice inside the chest( you might ice it down good before you leave and dump the ice outside the airport) you should be good to go..

Does the rod case come out on the round motorized thing (?) the bags are on when you arrive?

No, you will be claiming your rod tube at oversized luggage. Do have i.d. on inside of rod case as well as outside. tsa advised not to lock at j.f.k. as even after check in it could be reinspected. I can tell you that some of my luggage was reinspected as they leave card in luggage telling you so. You will know if you are in airport with hightend security as they will search gear bags at xray.
In Dubai the security person pulled a nagasima long jig out of redfisha's gear bag held it up like a sword and started shouting in arabic! It took a little explaining....