OK, so there I am out in the rain, in March, before any fish in the whole reservoir have come out of deep water. But, I'm finally going to get my Iwana 12' wet! I pull it out of the bag and prepare to attach my (thanks Chris) level line when low and behold no string on the tip of the rod!!!

The tip had slipped inside the next larger section. Trying to be the true minimalist Tenkara fisher I have no tools with me. I was finally able to push the tip section out with my bodkin when I returned home. I now have the string clipped inside the rod cap and I ordered a replacement tip section. I'll pick up a new bodkin to add to my Tenkara kit.

I'm concerned keeping the string in the rod cap will wear it out and there does not seem to be any way to replace it short of buying a replacement tip section.

Has this happened to others? What do you do to prevent it?