I treat my stuff differently.

Not that I have anything near approaching 4 figures in cost, but I do have rods that I value more highly. I think this is the key component in this discussion. Some folks clearly value all of their gear the same. Great. Others have some gear that is more valuable to them than other gear. The reasons for the diversity of value vary. For some it is memories with a particular piece of gear, for others it is cost, and I'm sure there are many other reasons. I happen to have rods I care about more than others, usually based on a time investment building it for myself.

How do I treat things differently? I always break down my good rods for transport in the car, even if I will be moving only a few miles to fish some more in another spot. By contrast I have a short 3wt. that I got used at a very good price that I have left set up in the car for days at a time so I can jump out and throw a line for a few minutes. Now part of that is that 3 wt is only 6'6" as compared 9' for my good rods, but if I had a high dollar short rod I'd be more careful with it. For me it is the value of time spent in building my own rods -v- off-the-shelf (less irreplaceable) rods. Mind you, I don't want to break ANY of them, but the level of heartbreak if I were to break one varies. I behave differently based on that level of heartbreak -v- conveniece.

All that said, I have only broken one rod. Yep, it was my favorite one. I was taking it to the garage to buff the reel seat and handle -- which I would never do with a less important rod -- and when I was walking through the utility room to the garage I managed to thread the butt section of the rod between the door and door frame without noticing. One step later, after a sickening crunch, I had modified my rod in a less-than-desirable way. I nearly burst into tears. I survived though, and the rod is even more cherished because of a birch bark handle I turned for the replacement butt.

Tyler