Hard on Fly Rod tips

I just have to do it ... don't know why, but I just do!

In my fly fishing experience I've managed to close the car door on a rod tip which managed to shorten that rod length by about 6" after I did a "modification". Did it again with another rod only this time is was with a station wagon ... remember those electric rear windows that operated with the key? Just like with the car door, I just stood there and watched myself do it. Did manage to buy another end section for that rod. Then there was the case of my buying my first 9' rod (always had eights and one eight and a half footers). What did I do as I was fondling the rod ... why I stuck it up into the ceiling fan while it was on - never forget that sound ... "twang"!

So what have I done to my rod tips lately? Now in my "aging" years I manage to walk into trees rod tip first! This action causes them to break about a inch back from the very tip. So far I've done two rods. Yes, I know ... when going through brush and such I carry the rod backwards. But just like having one tree in 100 yards of riverside I'll manage to hang my best fly in the top of it; likewise there will be that only tree and now I'll manage to walk into it fly rod first!

So to add something constructive to this post, let me tell you what I discovered - just take the tip-top with that one inch of rod tip and boil it in water for about 5 minutes and the tip will come right off and then you can epoxy it back onto the remaining rod end!



DaleW.

Ever wonder what effect all that boiling water has on your rod blank?

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Originally Posted by John Rhoades

Ever wonder what effect all that boiling water has on your rod blank?

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The tip top ... the metal end with short piece of boken rod ... that's what goes into the boiling water. The rest of the rod is comfortably resting in the corner of the house, high and dry. Comprende?

I bust the ring off the tip-top of some rod every year
Never the blank, just the tip-top. It comes from leaving the rod strung up, out of the case when moving from place to place I think
I got to the point where I carry extra tip-tops, tip-top cement, and a lighter in my tackle bag.
It's saved the day more than once

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Originally Posted by DaleW

So what have I done to my rod tips lately? Now in my "aging" years I manage to walk into trees rod tip first! This action causes them to break about a inch back from the very tip. So far I've done two rods. Yes, I know ... when going through brush and such I carry the rod backwards. But just like having one tree in 100 yards of riverside I'll manage to hang my best fly in the top of it; likewise there will be that only tree and now I'll manage to walk into it fly rod first!
DaleW.

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Dale,

Lesson learned. Walk with butt end of the rod facing foward.

Another reason to carry the rod butt end first when walking the stream bank is that the rod tip won't wave over the water ahead of you and spook fish. If you walk butt end forward, the rod tip will always be over the water you have already passed by.

You can also do it with a lighter QUICKLY for both on and off. It doesn't take much heat to make it let go. Most rod tips are put on with a hot glue.

Some simple fixits for broken guides and tip tops, reel seats, etc.:

Best case for tip tops is to have some with you so if you pull one off or break the rod close to the tip you can install a new one and go back to fishing.

If you don't have any tips, though, and sometimes when you break a tip the old top won't fit, you can easily get back to fishing with just few simple materials. A paper clip can be bent into the proper shape for a tip top. A couple of wraps of masking tape will hold it in place. Electrical tape is better still, and if you happen to have some heat shrink tubing, use that.

If you crush a guide, and it can't be straightened or it breaks while you are straightening it, that same paper clip can be bent to shape and again taped in place.

There amazingly little pressure or force applied to the wraps holding guides and tip tops to the rod blank. Just about any kind of tape is plenty strong enough for a day or two on the water.

If your reel seat breaks or a part of it comes unglued and it won't hold the reel securely, and this happens a lot, you can fix it with tape or with a couple of electrical cable, or 'zip', ties.

Say you have hiked in several miles to a great fishing location and you blow out a ferrule. Either the ferrule split, or even worse, the male side got loose and broke while you were casting. You may need a new rod, but you don't have to quit fishing. A friend of mine came up with a workable on stream fix. Probably because he had to. I told him that I wasn't going to quit fishing just because he was an idiot. We'd walked for an hour to get there, and I was going to fish some before we headed back.

So, necessity being the mother of invention, he overlapped the top and bottom sections of his rod about six inches, applied two cable ties and a layer of electrical tape, and fished all day. He noticed that the rod felt differently, which should have been obvious, but he was able to cast and he caught a lot of fish with it.

Good Luck!

Buddy

I broke the tip off my first rod before it even knew what water was. I pulled it out of the truck and the tip and about an inch of rod sticking out of the tip was just hanging on. I ripped it off and straightened a paper clip and got some insert glue (aae fast set gel out of my archery box) and glued both ends of the paper clip and slid it into the tip and slid the rest into the rest of the rod. Fished a hole year with it before i got a new rod, still use the fixed one every now and again too.

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Originally Posted by Silver Creek

Dale,

Lesson learned. Walk with butt end of the rod facing foward.

Another reason to carry the rod butt end first when walking the stream bank is that the rod tip won't wave over the water ahead of you and spook fish. If you walk butt end forward, the rod tip will always be over the water you have already passed by.

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I hope you only do that with the rod strung up. Otherwise, it's an easy way to lose the whole tip section without even realizing it. At least in the jungles that I fish in.

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Originally Posted by redietz

I hope you only do that with the rod strung up. Otherwise, it's an easy way to lose the whole tip section without even realizing it. At least in the jungles that I fish in.

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Take the leader and bring it around the reel handle and clip the fly to a guide. This maneuver has been described before.

Now take the floppy leader that hangs down along the rod, grab it in the center and rotate it around the fly rod several times and loop it around the center snake guide. Tighten the leader up and you will have a spiral wrap around of the leader around the rod that binds the leader sections both in and outside the guides to the fly rod. There will be no open space between the leader and fly rod for branches to grab onto or get into.

When you get to your new spot, release the leader loop from the guide and flip it around the rod and you are ready to fish.

It will eliminate almost all the leader hang ups. Certainly not as good as taking down the fly rod, but I've found that it works pretty well when the brush is thick.

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Originally Posted by Buddy Sanders

Some simple fixits for broken guides and tip tops, reel seats, etc.:

Best case for tip tops is to have some with you so if you pull one off or break the rod close to the tip you can install a new one and go back to fishing.

If you don't have any tips, though, and sometimes when you break a tip the old top won't fit, you can easily get back to fishing with just few simple materials. A paper clip can be bent into the proper shape for a tip top. A couple of wraps of masking tape will hold it in place. Electrical tape is better still, and if you happen to have some heat shrink tubing, use that.


Good Luck!

Buddy

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Thanks for the tips Buddy.

I've also read that someone use that coil of spring wire on the end of a safety pin for an emergency tip top guide. Might be worth a try in an emergency.

The only rod tip (so far) that I've broken was while building a 6 foot, 3 weight, tiger eye blank. I kind of torque gripped the rod with my gorilla hands and snapped about 5 inches off the tip. The accident actually turned a 6 foot 3 weight into the fastest 5' 7"-4 weight I've ever cast. Can hardly wait to fish it.

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Originally Posted by Silver Creek

Now take the floppy leader that hangs down along the rod, grab it in the center and rotate it around the fly rod several times and loop it around the center snake guide. Tighten the leader up and you will have a spiral wrap around of the leader around the rod that binds the leader sections both in and outside the guides to the fly rod. There will be no open space between the leader and fly rod for branches to grab onto or get into.

When you get to your new spot, release the leader loop from the guide and flip it around the rod and you are ready to fish.

It will eliminate almost all the leader hang ups. Certainly not as good as taking down the fly rod, but I've found that it works pretty well when the brush is thick.

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That's a good idea.

I've known enough people that have lost sections of rods, usually returning to the car at night, by either trailing a rod that's not strung up, or by disassembling it at carrying a bunch of sections, that it's always worth pointing out the possibility.

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Originally Posted by redietz

That's a good idea.

I've known enough people that have lost sections of rods, usually returning to the car at night, by either trailing a rod that's not strung up, or by disassembling it at carrying a bunch of sections, that it's always worth pointing out the possibility.

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Ive also known people that dont take care of their equipment. They deserve what they get!

.....I like the ceiling fan move... it's more creative than the "ramming the rod into the tree" method. I've tried both. However, my personal favorite was having my mom shut my brand-new Loomis 9' 5wt in the tailgate of my truck many years ago, before I ever threw a single cast with it..... made a two-piece into a four-piece in a microsecond.
I just told her "no big deal mom, it's just a fishin pole" and saved my tears for later...
Being an old catfisher, with a cane pole & a bobber, she'da thought I'd gone around the bend if she had any idea how much I'd spent on that Loomis...............MoodocDan

That's when a TFO rod comes in very handy. ;)