How do you carry your rod?

I see some experienced fly fishers carrying their rods with the tip forward and some with it pointing back. I prefer to carry mine with the tip forward and follow it through the brush. An old friend has been warning me of a broken tip for 60 years but I havn't broken one yet. I suspect that he's at least knocked the tip top off at least once in the same period of time> How do you handle and why?

Ol' Bill

When a deer or an elk runs through heavy timber, they carry their chin up and the tips of their antlers back. This avoids snags. When I walk through the brush with my flyrod, I carry the tip back but my chin down. This also helps to avoid snags with the rod and a slap in the face from a branch or small limb. I also loosen the drag for those times when brush gets caught between the rod tip and the line. It does happen.



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A free gift waits for those who ask.
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Lotech Joe

[dixieangler]

Pointed back because I keep running it into things if I don't .

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Robert B. McCorquodale
Sebring, FL

"Flip a fly"

[scott1805]

I keep my rod tip pointed forward. You can see where its goin and what its gettin caught on.

[Jim Cramer]

When I was young and agile I carried my tip facing forward. Now that I'm older and prone to tripping, stumbling, and thrusting my hands forward to break my falls I now carry the tip to the rear.

[uwyo06]

I carry mine both with tip forward and backwards, but I would say I keep it behind me for the majority of the time. I like it behind me going through the brush because I feel it is easier for my rod to follow my path instead of me having to thread the needle through the sticks.

Tip to the rear pretty much 98% of the time. The only time the tip is forward is when I'm in an open area (read field).

Jeff

[Royal Wulff]

RW here,

What Jim Cramer and 06 said. Unless the terrain ahead is perfectly clear, like walking down the side of a road. Then I carry it tip forward.

Later, RW

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"We fish for pleasure; I for mine, you for yours." -James Leisenring on fishing the wet fly-

[gadabout]

Like some others have said, I carry it tip backward unless I am in an open area.

[ohiotuber]

Snipe,
Funny you should ask. Just last weekend, as I carried my rod through some brushy area with the tip forward (as always), I actually found myself thinking that "tip back" may make more sense, and after reading these posts, I think I will change.
Thanks everybody!
Mike