Yeah!
I tried this "technique" for the last season and a half.
I've used a Chinese telescoping rod in approx.-6' 5wt, that collapses to about 1.5ft.
I attached my fly reel to the two rings on the foam handle. It works good.
It has caught pretty much everything from Apache trout to Rainbows in the great State of AZ.
I even caught, and landed, a 3ft. carp on it last summer in AUG. I sure wish somebody other than family would have been there for the catches on this rod.

My brother-in-law got me the rod as a "kit" from China, because he didn't know that much about fishing, other than his new brother-in-law liked fishing. After a bit of re-fitting of the rod it has been my fav for such time.